Declaration of independence of 1775
With this, on May 10, 1775 the Second International Congress in Philadelphia was formed, where American scholars gathered to discuss how to face the hard policies that were applying from Britain. The monarch Jorge III had carried out an approval of unpopular taxes without the authorization of the inhabitants of the colonies, the military presence in their American territories increased and at the same time forced an unfair trade for settlers who were dependent on the British empire. Due to all these applied measures, each colony sent a representative to try to soften the actions committed, men who would soon become the leaders of the American Revolution: Patrick Henry, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington,among others. Only, when the war made independence into a need, it was when the leaders decided to break with the dominant homeland.
Jefferson’s arrival in this congress as a new member was not surprising since all members knew them perfectly. One of the most outstanding works at that time: to Summary View of the Rights of British America had been of great draft in the colonies and in the English empire, because in that work it harassed King Jorge III of establishing an abuse of power through theapplication of taxes without representation, for the prohibition of American goods and avoid free trade. In addition, Jefferson in another of his writings, to Summary View, proposed the end of the excavitude despite the owner of slaves.
Undoubtedly, all this allowed him to gain the confidence of all the members who made up the Congress so that he was writing the reasons why the colonies justified an uprising against the imperial government. He wrote Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, a document that was finally sent to Great Britain in 1775 with the purpose of clarifying that the colonies would not accept in any ways those policies that were being developed. Clearly, the conflict between English and settlers was started.
Enter in the year 1776, the declaration of independence was not yet formalized, not only because there was still part of the society that disagreed with this measure but also because the same members who formed the congress showed ideas contrary to it. A part of these men considered that the best way to obtain freedom was through independence while others estimated that representation in the British Parliament was the best to develop more fair policies along with the presence of the king. However, such was the situation in which the English government was with the colonies that Parliament demanded that if an American did not express his loyalty to the king, he would be convicted of death.
All the events that were being developed seemed to decline the balance in favor of England, not being so effective the military movements that George Washington was making. Therefore, it was the time to know if the colonies were in favor of declaring independence and for this, the members agreed for 20 days so that they could vote and thus know the final result. Meanwhile a document would be written: the declaration of independence, where the actions to be followed by Congress would be collected in writing. For the creation of this document, five men were chosen: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman and Thomas Jefferson.
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