Analysis of the Book about the Declaration of Independence

The author of the book, “The Declaration of Independence: A Primary Source Investigation into the Action of the Second Continental Congress,” is Jennifer Viegas. She is 53 years old, born on July 25, 1965 and is known for writing many informational books about a variety of subjects, such as history and the human body.

She may also be known as a reporter for Discovery News or the twenty books she has written. She has also been nominated and won many awards in journalism and digital design, including two Interactive Media Awards.

The reason why I picked this book is because I have always wanted to know more about the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of America. I have also known that this document was a very important item in making America, but never really knew what it stood for, or how it was formed in the first place, so I picked this book hoping it would help answer my questions.

This book really helped clear many of my questions I had about the Declaration of Independence, such as, “Who first wrote the Declaration of Independence?” and now I know that it wasn’t just one person who had wrote it, but it was actually five people! This book provided everything from the period before the Declaration of Independence was wrote, to while it was being wrote, to even after it was wrote.

I greatly enjoyed this book for many reasons, one being it included a glossary full of key events that lead to The Declaration of Independence being created and a small summary of the events. Another reason for why I liked this book is in the back of the book is it included a word-for-word representation of The Declaration of Independence, allowing one to carefully read the document.

The Declaration of Independence is a document that was created in the time period of June-July 1776 and was ratified on July 4th, 1776. The purpose of this document was to explain to foreign nations why colonies had chosen to separate themselves from Great Britain. The Revolutionary War, at the time, was now unfolding, and many other battles had already happened.

The American colonies had already cut most of their ties with England and established their very own congress, currency, army, and post office. On June 7, 1776, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee voiced a resolution that the United States should be completely free of England’s influence, and that all political ties between the two countries should be dissolved.

Congress agreed and began plans to publish a formal declaration of independence and appointed a committee of five members to draft the declaration. The five members were Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams.

The document has four main points. The Preamble explains why the colonists find it necessary to state why they are declaring their independence from Great Britain. The next part explains the political ideas behind their actions, such as how Thomas Jefferson took many ideas from French and British thinkers of the era, or as known today as the Enlightenment era. The third and longest part lists all the charges against the king, and the fourth part lists all the rights the nation is claiming for itself.

There was a ton of things I learned new while reading this book. Did you know that the Declaration of Independence was used to allow activists during the civil rights and women’s movements during the 70s and 80s? Or that the Declaration wasn’t even signed on  July 4th, and that most of the delegates signed on August 2nd? There was a lot of stuff that I never knew about this document, and there was some stuff that I think every American should know.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is looking for more information on the foundation of America, or just America in general. This book offers an incredible amount of information for its size and, as mentioned before, includes a word-for-word copy of the Declaration in print-form.

In conclusion, The Declaration of Independence gave birth to what is known today as the United States of America. This document is the physical embodiment of American democracy. If not for this document, who knows where America would be today? Finally, I leave you with a quote from the document itself, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,”

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