THE HARD ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

The US Declaration of Independence was formally adopted on one famous day in July 1776. Yet this celebrated event was the product of years of misunderstandings and escalating tensions. On the 250th anniversary of the birth of a nation, GEORGE GOODWIN traces the evolution of one of the most consequential documents in history

- 

This July, Americans will be casting their minds back 250 years in commemoration of one extraordinary event. A raft of celebrations — from a nationwide block party to fireworks at Mount Rushmore — will pay homage to the moment, on 4 July 1776, when representatives of the colonies met in Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia and formally adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Yet, as we look back at the Declaration from the vantage point of two-and-a-half centuries, it is worth considering how it came into being and how it has become one of the most celebrated documents in world history. Initially, it was the product of the misunderstandings, escalating tensions and missed opportunities within the deteriorating relationship between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its American colonies. But it has become the forerunner and inspiration of around 120 political declarations across the world.

The change in the relationship between Britain and its transatlantic colonies was very rapid indeed. At the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Britain had defeated France, then the greatest military power on the European continent, and almost negated its role in North America. In that achievement, it had worked closely with its American colonies and with Massachusetts in particular. Yet by 1775, British colonists in America were at war with their fellow Britons across the Atlantic, with the first blood spilled on Massachusetts soil, at Lexington and Concord.