When armed conflict among bands of American colonists and British soldiers began in April 1775, the Americans were apparently hostility only for their rights as subjects of the British crown. By the subsequent summer, with the Revolutionary War in full swing, the association for autonomy from Britain had grown, and give of the Continental Congress were faced with a vote on the issue.
Even after the initial combat in the Revolutionary War broke out, few colonists’ desired total independence from Great Britain, and those who did--like John Adams-- were measured fundamental. Things distorted over the course of the next year, however, as Britain effort to crush the insurgent with all the force of its great army.
In March 1776, North Carolina's revolutionary gathering became the first to vote in support of independence; seven other colonies had pursued suit by mid-May. On June 7, the Virginia give Richard Henry Lee begin a motion calling for the colonies' independence before the Continental Congress while it met at the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. Amid frenzied argue, Congress delayed the vote on Lee's declaration and called a depression for numerous weeks.
Before transitory, however, the allot also selected a five-man committee together with Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York--to draft a formal declaration explanatory the break with Great Britain. That file would become known as the statement of autonomy.
The Continental Congress reconvened on July 1, and the subsequent day 12 of the 13 colonies accept Lee's declaration for independence. The process of deliberation and amendment of Jefferson's assertion (including Adams' and Franklin's corrections) sustained on July 3 and into the late morning of July 4, through which Congress remove and revised some one-fifth of its text.
