We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
We Hold These Truths to Be
Topic: Society & Civil Religion
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.“
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
American Civil Religion
The Declaration of Independence
Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 995 [The Declaration of Independence (The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, in Congress, July 4, 1776)].
Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson et al. The Declaration of Independence
June 11, 1776
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston appointed to a committee to draft a declaration of independence.
June 12-27, 1776
Jefferson, at the request of the committee, drafts a declaration, of which only a fragment exists. Jefferson’s clean, or “fair” copy, the “original Rough draft,” is reviewed by the committee. Both documents are in the manuscript collections of the Library of Congress.
July 4, 1776
Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in the morning of a bright, sunny, but cool Philadelphia day. John Dunlap prints the Declaration of Independence. These prints are now called “Dunlap Broadsides.” Twenty-four copies are known to exist, two of which are in the Library of Congress. One of these was Washington’s personal copy.