Editing Declaration of Independence (section)

== Road to Independence ==

The decision to declare independence emerged gradually from escalating conflict between Britain and its American colonies. The [[First Continental Congress]] of 1774 had organized resistance to British policies while affirming allegiance to the Crown. The outbreak of fighting at Lexington and Concord in April 1775 transformed the conflict into armed rebellion, but even then many colonists hoped for reconciliation. The [[Second Continental Congress]] sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III in July 1775, seeking peaceful resolution, but the King refused to receive it and declared the colonies in rebellion. By early 1776, the publication of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" had galvanized public opinion toward independence, attacking not only British policy but the institution of monarchy itself.<ref name="middlekauff">{{cite book |last=Middlekauff |first=Robert |title=The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York}}</ref>

The Continental Congress moved toward independence in stages. On May 10, 1776, Congress advised the colonies to form new governments independent of British authority. On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution declaring "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." Congress debated the resolution but postponed a final vote to allow delegates from reluctant colonies to seek new instructions. Meanwhile, Congress appointed a Committee of Five—Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston—to draft a formal declaration explaining the reasons for independence. The committee assigned the actual writing to Jefferson, who produced a draft in approximately seventeen days at his lodgings in the Graff House on Market Street.<ref name="ellis">{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Joseph J. |title=American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson |year=1997 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York}}</ref>