His political opponent and lifetime friend, Thomas Jefferson, achieved immortality through his authorship of the Declaration of Independence, but equally notable were the legal and constitutional reforms he instituted in his native Virginia, his role as father of our territorial system, and his acquisition of the Louisiana Territory during his first term as President.

John Adams dismissed John Dickinson, who voted against the Declaration of Independence, as `` a certain great fortune and piddling genius ''.

John Adams asserted in the Continental Congress' Declaration of Rights that the demands of the colonies were in accordance with their charters, the British Constitution and the common law, and Jefferson appealed in the Declaration of Independence `` to the tribunal of the world '' for support of a revolution justified by `` the laws of nature and of nature's God ''.

The Declaration of Independence says that `` governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed ''.

New Englanders were a bit sensitive on the subject of their complicity in Negro slavery at the time of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, as Jefferson explained in his `` Autobiography '': ``

That John Locke's philosophy of the social contract fathered the American Revolution with its Declaration of Independence, I believe, we generally accept.

Father Murray goes back to the Declaration of Independence, too, though I may add, with considerably more historical perception.

Sir -- When the colonies decided upon freedom from England, we insisted, through the Declaration of Independence, that the nations of the world recognize us as a separate political entity.

Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence amid the catastrophes of revolution ; ;

During the Dorr trial the Democratic press condemned the proceedings and heralded Dorr as a martyr to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

An essay on `` Freedom '' written at 10 years of age quoted the Declaration of Independence, the freedom given to slaves in Canada, and the views of George Washington.

Foner argues that Lincoln was a moderate in the middle, opposing slavery primarily because it violated the republicanism principles of the Founding Fathers, especially the equality of all men and democratic self-government as expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

Lincoln denounced the decision, alleging it was the product of a conspiracy of Democrats to support the Slave Power Lincoln argued, " The authors of the Declaration of Independence never intended ' to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity ', but they ' did consider all men created equal — equal in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness '.

As early as the 1850s, a time when most political rhetoric focused on the sanctity of the Constitution, Lincoln redirected emphasis to the Declaration of Independence as the foundation of American political values — what he called the " sheet anchor " of republicanism.

On June 12, 1776, a day after appointing a committee to prepare a draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress resolved to appoint a committee of 13 to prepare a draft of a constitution for a union of the states.

* 1724 – Lyman Hall, American physician, clergyman, and statesman, signer of United States Declaration of Independence ( d. 1790 )

* 1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.

The Declaration of Independence refers to " unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America " adopted by the " Representatives of the united States of America " on July 4, 1776.

* 1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, politician, and preacher, helped draft the Texas Declaration of Independence ( d. 1861 )

* 1721 – Roger Sherman, American statesman and signer of the U. S. Declaration of Independence ( d. 1793 )

The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tablet evoking upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

* 1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.

* Declaration of Independence of Quito, proclaimed independence from Spain on August 10, 1809, but failed with the execution of all the conspirators of the movement on August 2, 1810.

* A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow

They recognized that slavery was a moral issue and not merely an economic interest, and that to recognize it explicitly in their Constitution would be in explosive contradiction to the concept of sovereignty they had set forth in the Declaration of 1776 that `` all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The basic goal finds partial expression in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a statement initiated and endorsed by individuals and organizations of many religious and philosophical traditions.

* 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.

The Abbey, which was the richest in Scotland, is most famous for its association with the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath, believed to have been drafted by Abbot Bernard, who was the Chancellor of Scotland under King Robert I.

MSP Alex Johnstone wrote " Clearly, the Declaration of Arbroath is a literary work of outstanding universal significance by any stretch of the imagination " In 2008, the Campaign Group Chairman, Councillor Jim Millar launched a public petition to reinforce the bid explaining " We're simply asking people to, local people especially, to sign up to the campaign to have the Declaration of Arbroath and Arbroath Abbey recognised by the United Nations.

Another famous abjuration was brought about by the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe of July 26, 1581, the formal Declaration of Independence of the Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II.

Meanwhile, about 100 miles south of Queenstown, U-27, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Bernard Wegener, stopped the British steamer Nicosian in accordance with the rules laid down by the London Declaration.

According to Isaiah Friedman, Hussein was not perturbed by the Balfour Declaration and on 23 March 1918, in Al Qibla, the daily newspaper of Mecca, with Hussein writing:

Continuing Arab disquiet over Allied intentions also led during 1918 to the British Declaration to the Seven and the Anglo-French Declaration, the latter promising " the complete and final liberation of the peoples who have for so long been oppressed by the Turks, and the setting up of national governments and administrations deriving their authority from the free exercise of the initiative and choice of the indigenous populations.

" The ' most comprehensive explanation ' of the origin of the Balfour Declaration the Foreign Office was able to provide was contained in a small ' unofficial ' note of Jan 1923 affirming that: little is known of how the policy represented by the Declaration was first given form.

In his posthumously published 1981 book The Anglo-American Establishment, Georgetown University history professor Carroll Quigley explained that the Balfour Declaration was actually drafted by Lord Alfred Milner.

Steps towards reconciliation on a global level were taken in 1965 by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches mutually revoking the excommunications that marked their Great Schism in 1054 ; the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission ( ARCIC ) working towards full communion between those churches since 1970 ; and the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches signing The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in 1999 to address conflicts at the root of the Protestant Reformation.

In April 2002, the parties of the UN CBD adopted the recommendations of the Gran Canaria Declaration Calling for a Global Plant Conservation Strategy, and adopted a 16 point plan aiming to slow the rate of plant extinctions around the world by 2010.

This was opposed by certain leading party members and a week later ; the Declaration of the Forty-Six was issued, which condemned Stalin's centralisation policies.

* 1993 – History of Northern Ireland: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

The reason given in the Declaration is that Bruce was able to defend Scotland from English aggression whereas, by implication, King John could not.

Probably the two most famous declarations of a right to revolution against tyranny in the English language are John Locke's Essay concerning The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil-Government and Thomas Jefferson's formulation in the United States Declaration of Independence that " all men are created equal ".

Edinburgh is the home town of the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, who was born in the city and attended Fettes College ; Robin Harper the co-convener of the Scottish Green Party ; and John Witherspoon, the only clergyman to sign the United States Declaration of Independence, and later president of Princeton University.

John Singer Sargent, a friend and neighbor of Abbey, and studio assistant Board completed the " Reading of the Declaration of Independence Mural.

In 1320 the Declaration of Arbroath, a remonstrance to the Pope from the nobles of Scotland, helped convince Pope John XXII to overturn the earlier excommunication and nullify the various acts of submission by Scottish kings to English ones so that Scotland's sovereignty could be recognised by the major European dynasties.

* Araujo, Robert John, “ The UN Declaration on Human Cloning: a survey and assessment of the debate ,” 7 The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 129-149 ( 2007 ).

* John Dunlap, printer of the first copies of the United States Declaration of Independence

The motion is seconded by John Adams and leads to the United States Declaration of Independence.

* 1826 – Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, second president of the United States, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence.

His death came 55 years after the U. S. Declaration of Independence was proclaimed and 5 years after the death of two other Founding Fathers who became Presidents: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

John Witherspoon, the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence.

John Hancock's signature is the most prominent on the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.

In the United States, one is John Hancock, named after the first of the signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence. Signature of Mahatma Gandhi

As an example, the final " k " in John Hancock's famous signature on the US Declaration of Independence loops back to underline his name.

John Trumbull ’ s Declaration of Independence had won popular acclaim in 1820.

On July 4 at ten minutes before one o ' clock Jefferson died at the age of 83, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and a few hours before John Adams whose last words were, " Independence forever " and " Thomas Jefferson survives.

Article XIV of the Massachusetts Declaration of the Rights written by John Adams and enacted in 1780 as part of the Massachusetts Constitution added the requirement that all searches must be “ reasonable ” and served as the basis for the language of the Fourth Amendment:

Although Jefferson wrote that Congress had " mangled " his draft version, the Declaration that was finally produced, according to his biographer John Ferling, was " the majestic document that inspired both contemporaries and posterity.