What was the cause for issuing the declaration independence

When his uncle died, Hancock inherited his lucrative The delegates then spent the next Without them, there would have been no United States of America. The Founding Fathers, a group of predominantly wealthy plantation owners and businessmen, united 13 disparate colonies, fought for independence from Britain and penned a series of influential governing documents Live TV.

This Day In History. History Vault. America Before the Declaration of Independence Even after the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did—like John Adams— were considered radical.

Recommended for you. Writing of Declaration of Independence. Jefferson Writes the Declaration of Independence. Declares Independence. Continental Congress From to , the Continental Congress served as the government of the 13 American colonies and later the United States. Why Was the Declaration of Independence Written? John Hancock American Revolution leader John Hancock was a signer of the Declaration of Independence in and a governor of Massachusetts.

Since Parliament clearly lacked the consent of the American colonists to govern them, it was no longer legitimate. It was approved with a few minor changes. Show all questions. Read the passage and answer the questions. Show all questions Last Question Next Question. In response, Britain cracked down further with the Coercive Acts, going so far as to revoke the colonial charter of Massachusetts and close the port of Boston.

Then the first shots rang out between colonial and British forces at Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill cost hundreds of American lives, along with 1, killed on the British side. Some 20, troops under General George Washington faced off against a British garrison in the Boston Siege, which ended when the British evacuated in March Washington then moved his Continental Army to New York, where he assumed correctly that a major British invasion would soon take place.

Meanwhile, many in the Continental Congress still clung to the assumption that reconciliation with Britain was the ultimate goal. This would soon change, thanks in part to the actions of King George III , who in October denounced the colonies in front of Parliament and began building up his army and navy to crush their rebellion.

In order to have any hope of defeating Britain, the colonists would need support from foreign powers especially France , which Congress knew they could only get by declaring themselves a separate nation.

After Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a motion to declare independence on June 7, , Congress formed a committee to draft a statement justifying the break with Great Britain. The initial draft of the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and was presented to the entire Congress on June 28 for debate and revision.