Which document announced the colonies’ reasons for separating from Great Britain in 1776?

The Declaration of Independence announced the colonies’ reasons for separating from Great Britain in 1776.

The Continental Congress adopted the document on July 4, 1776, after delegates approved a resolution for independence two days earlier. Thomas Jefferson drafted the main text, while John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston served with him on the drafting committee.

The Declaration presents political principles about equality, natural rights, and government by consent. It also lists grievances against King George III and formally states that the thirteen colonies were independent states. Its ideas influenced later democratic movements in the United States and abroad.

The document was not the peace treaty that ended the war, nor was it the Constitution that later established the federal government. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 recognized American independence internationally, while the Constitution was drafted in 1787 to create a new national framework.