This A-to-Z encyclopedia surveys the history, meaning, and enduring impact of the Declaration of Independence by explaining its contents and concepts, profiling the Founding Fathers, and detailing depictions of the Declaration in art, music, and literature.

Topical List of Entries
Preface
Introduction
Timeline
Interesting Facts
Entries:
Abdication of Government (Charge #23)
Abolitionism
Abuses and Usurpations
Act of Abjuration (Plakkaat van Verlatinge, 1581)
Adams, John
Adams, John Quincy, Independence Day Address (July 4, 1821)
Address to the Inhabitants of the Colonies (Wilson)
Address to the People of Great Britain (October 21, 1774)
Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection
Ambition
An Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress (Lind)
Attestation Clauses
Audiences for the Declaration of Independence
Bentham's Short Review of the Declaration of Independence
Bill of Rights
Binns Engraving of the Declaration of Independence
British Constitution
British Crown
British Deposition Apologias
Calhoun, John C.
Called Together Legislative Bodies Unusually (Charge #4)
Capitalization and Punctuation in the Declaration of Independence
Captions of the Declaration of Independence
Charges against the King and Others
Circumstances of Our Emigration and Settlement
Civilian Control of the Military (Charge #12)
Coins and Stamps Depicting the Declaration of Independence
Committee Responsible for Writing the Declaration of Independence
Common Sense (Paine)
Congress Voting Independence (Painting by Savage)
Congressional and Presidential References to the Declaration of Independence
Congressional Response to Lord North's Conciliatory Resolution
Connecticut and Its Signers
Consent of the Governed
Considerations on the Nature and Extent of Legislative Authority of the British Parliament (Wilson)
Conspiracy
Constrained Our Fellow Citizens Taken Captive on the High Seas (Charge #26)
Covenants and Compacts
Creation of New State Governments
Creed/Scriptures
Debates over the Declaration of Independence
Declaration (Meaning of Term)
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (1774)
Declaration House
Declaration of Independence Desk
Declaration of Sentiments (1848)
Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
Declaratory Act of 1766
Delaware and Its Signers
Democracy
Dickinson (John) Speech Opposing the Declaration of Independence
Dissolution of Government
Dissolved Representative Houses (Charge #5)
Dunlap Broadside Printing of the Declaration of Independence
Endeavored to Prevent the Population (Charge #7)
English Declaration of Rights
Engravings and Printings of the Declaration of Independence
Engrossed Declaration of Independence (Matlack)
Equality
Erected a Multitude of New Offices (Charge #10)
Evolution of the Text
Facts
Family
Faulkner, Barry (Painting)
Federalism
Forbidding Governors from Passing Laws (Charge #2)
Franklin, Benjamin
Friends and Enemies
George III, Proclamation of Rebellion (August 23, 1775)
George III, Speech to Parliament (October 27, 1775)
George III, Speech to Parliament (October 31, 1776)
Georgia and Its Signers
God
Goddard Printing of the Declaration of Independence
Hancock's Letters Accompanying the Declaration of Independence
He Has Combined with Others (Charge #13)
Howe's Circular Letter (1776)
Human Nature and the Declaration of Independence
Independence
Independence Day
Independence Hall
International Law
Interpreting the Declaration of Independence
Jefferson, Thomas
Jefferson Memorial
Jefferson's Epitaph
Jefferson's Last Words on the Declaration of Independence
Jefferson's Notes on Debates over Independence
Jefferson's Resolutions on Lord North's Conciliatory Proposal
Jefferson's Speech to Jean Baptiste Ducoigne (1781)
Justice
Kingship
Laws of Nature and of Nature's God
Legal Form of the Declaration of Independence
Length of the Declaration of Independence
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Lincoln, Abraham
List of Infringements and Violations of Rights (Warren)
Locke, John
Made Judges Dependent on His Will (Charge #9)
Majority Rule and Unanimity
Martin Luther King Jr. Legislation
Maryland and Its Signers
Massachusetts and Its Signers
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence
Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
Moral Virtues in the Declaration of Independence
Musical Play 1776
Native American Indians (Charge #27)
Necessity
New Hampshire and Its Signers
New Jersey and Its Signers
New York and Its Signers
Nor Have We Been Wanting in Attention to Our English Brethren
North Carolina and Its Signers
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Obstructed the Administration of Justice (Charge #8)
Olive Branch Petition
Originality of the Declaration of Independence
Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor
Outline and Organization of the Declaration of Independence
Pennsylvania and Its Signers
People
Petition to King George III (1774)
Petitions for Redress Ignored (Charge #28)
Philadelphia
Plundered Our Seas (Charge #24)
Preamble to the Resolution of Virginia Convention (May 15, 1776)
Preserving the Declaration of Independence
Proclamation, Reading, and Reception of the Declaration of Independence
Property Rights
Protecting Troops by Mock Trials (Charge #15)
Prudence
Quartering Troops (Charge #14)
Quebec Act of 1774 (Charge #20)
Reason
References to King George III in the Declaration of Independence
Refused Assent to Colonial Laws (Charge #1)
Refused to Cause Others to Be Elected (Charge #6)
Refused to Pass Other Laws (Charge #3)
Remember the Ladies
Representative (Republican) Government
Reputation of the Declaration of Independence
Resolutions Introduced by Richard Henry Lee (June 7, 1776)
Revolution
Rhode Island and Its Signers
The Rights of Great Britain Asserted against the Claims of America (Macpherson)
Rush's (Benjamin) Characters of the Signers
Scottish Enlightenment
Second Continental Congress
Secrecy
Self-Evident Truths
Signers, Collective Profile
Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Slavery
South Carolina and Its Signers
Standing Armies (Charge #11)
State Constitutions and the Declaration of Independence
Statue of Liberty
Stone Engraving of the Declaration of Independence
Strictures upon the Declaration of Independence (Hutchinson)
Style of the Declaration of Independence
Suffolk Resolves of 1774
A Summary View of the Rights of British America (Jefferson)
Supreme Court and the Declaration of Independence
Suspending Legislatures (Charge #22)
Sussex Declaration
Syng Inkstand
Taking Away Our Charters (Charge #21)
Taxes (Charge #17)
Temperature on July 4, 1776
Timing of the Declaration of Independence
Tories
Trade (Charge #16)
Translations of the Declaration of Independence
Transporting Large Armies of Foreign Mercenaries (Charge #25)
Transporting Us beyond Seas (Charge #19)
Treason
Trial by Jury (Charge #18)
Trumbull, John (Paintings)
Tyler Engraving of the Declaration of Independence
Tyranny
Unalienable Rights
United States of America (Name)
U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence
Virginia and Its Signers
Virginia Constitution of 1776
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Virginia Resolution of May 15, 1776
Vote for Independence
"We" (First-Person Plural)
We Have Appealed to Their Native Justice & Magnanimity
When in the Course of Human Events
Whig Political Thought
Whitney, Peter (Sermon)
Writing the Declaration of Independence (J. L. G. Ferris Painting)
Appendix A: Thomas Jefferson's Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence
Appendix B: Declaration of Independence (1776)
Appendix C: Signers by State from North to South
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

John R. Vile is professor of political science and dean of the University Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.