The United States Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress.
The document announced that the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent states rather than subjects of Great Britain. Congress met in Philadelphia, at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall. Thomas Jefferson wrote the original draft, while Congress debated and revised its language.
The date can be confused with other important moments. Congress voted for independence through the Lee Resolution on July 2, 1776, and the engrossed parchment was signed mainly on August 2. July 4 marks Congress’s formal adoption of the Declaration’s final text, which is why it became the date celebrated as Independence Day.
The Declaration’s opening political argument and its list of grievances against King George III made it both a statement of separation and an explanation of the Revolution to domestic and international audiences.