What was the Declaration of Independence? The DOI was a 1776 document stating that the 13 colonies were a free and independent nation. Who wrote the DOI? Thomas Jefferson did, but why? The DOI was written because the colonists wanted to basically explain why they wanted to break away from Britain. Therefore, I am going to explain why the colonists wanted equal rights, a new government, and independence. .
Why did the colonists want equal rights? Well at the time parliament passed laws that violated their unalienable rights, and ruled the colonies without the "consent of the governed", thus making the colonists feel like they were being deprived of something that they shouldn't have been. In the Declaration of Independence it stated, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." They are saying that you are born with certain rights that cannot be taken away, that are given to you by your creator/god. They were telling the king, that he couldn't take their rights away. The Declaration sought to restore equal rights.
What would make the colonists want a whole new government? Well the reason was because parliament had very oppressive taxes, and King George had failed to solve or even address the conflict even after the colonies had asked him to. As the Declaration made clear, the "long train of abuses and usurpations" plus all of the tyranny the king had displayed, forced the colonists to alter/abolish their government as it was their "right", or "duty" since the government was becoming so destructive. King Henry was taxing the colonists with acts such as the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Tea Act. Prior to all of this the colonists were used to little interference with the British and had a self-government and weren't used to all the policies that the British had just now layed onto them with all the acts and such.
