The Declaration of Independence, formally titled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in the engrossed version and original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who convened at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in the colonial era capital of Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers. The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history.
On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, who were charged with authoring the Declaration. Adams, a leading proponent of independence, persuaded the Committee to charge Jefferson with writing the document's original draft, which the Second Continental Congress then edited. Jefferson largely wrote the Declaration in isolatio
