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.

The Israeli Declaration of Independence (, Hakhrazat HaAtzma ' ut or Megilat HaAtzma ' ut ), was made on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708 ), the day before the British Mandate was due to expire.

Sir Percy Cradock, GCMG (, 26 October 1923 – 22 January 2010 ) was a British diplomat, civil servant and sinologist who served as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1983, playing a significant role in the Sino-British negotiations which led up to the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984.

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 Declaration announced the states ' entry into the international system ; the model treaty was designed to establish amity and commerce with other states ; and the Articles of Confederation, which established “ a firm league ” among the thirteen free and independent states, constituted an international agreement to set up central institutions for the conduct of vital domestic and foreign affairs.

In the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act was, with the consent of the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and South African governments, passed through parliament and the Crown thus passed to the next-in-line descendant of Sophia: Edward's brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York.

The Irish Free State, whose consent to the Abdication Act was also required, neither gave it nor allowed the British legislation to take effect in the Free State's jurisdiction ; instead, the Irish parliament passed its own Act — the Executive Authority ( External Relations ) Act — the day after the Declaration of Abdication Act took force elsewhere, meaning Edward VIII, for one day, remained King of Ireland while George VI was king of all the other realms.

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.

The campaign seeks to gain World Heritage Status for the iconic Angus landmark that was the birthplace of one of Scotland's most significant documents, the Declaration of Arbroath.

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.

Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, on 4 August feudalism was abolished and on 26 August, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed.

The Balfour Declaration of 1926, a report resulting from the 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London, was named after the British statesman Arthur Balfour, first Earl of Balfour, Lord President of the Council and a previous Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The Balfour Declaration ( dated 2 November 1917 ) was a letter from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild ( Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild ), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.

The " Balfour Declaration " was later incorporated into the Sèvres peace treaty with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine.

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:

Following the publication of the Declaration the British had dispatched Commander David George Hogarth to see Hussein in January 1918 bearing the message that the " political and economic freedom " of the Palestinian population was not in question.

" 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.

This declaration, which is always known as the Balfour Declaration, should rather be called " the Milner Declaration ," since Milner was the actual draftsman and was, apparently, its chief supporter in the War Cabinet.