The Declaration of Independence was a document declaring the United States to be independent of the British. Representatives of the Thirteen Colonies signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence has been important to American people because it is what led to their independence from the Great Britain. And it also justified their right to rebel against a government that no longer guaranteed their natural rights. The Declaration …show more content…
Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence, “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creators with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Similarly, the Declaration of the Rights of Man illustrates that, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” Article 1 of the French Declaration says that all men “are born and remain free and equal.” This clearly echoes Thomas Jefferson’s phrase from the Declaration of Independence. Both declarations take this idea from the Enlightenment idea of legal equality. And both of their concepts come from the Enlightenment idea that people have individual rights and freedoms. Those ideas came from the famous Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau that believed that all people in a society were equal, and should be recognize as such under the