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The Road to Independence

From the First Continental Congress's resolves of 1774 to the vote of July 2, 1776: the documents that lead to the Declaration of Independence, as the Journals of the Continental Congress, the printings of the time and Jefferson's papers give them.

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Documents

  1. The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress

    The First Continental Congress declares the colonists' rights, lists the Acts of Parliament that violate them, and resolves on peaceable measures: the day's entry for October 14, 1774, as the Journals of the Continental Congress print it.

    October 14, 1774Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789

  2. A Declaration Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

    The Second Continental Congress sets forth why the colonies have taken up arms, July 6, 1775, in a broadside printed at Portsmouth that year (the Text Creation Partnership's transcription).

    July 6, 1775A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, Setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their Taking up Arms

  3. The Resolution of May 10, 1776, and its Preamble of May 15

    Congress recommends that the colonies adopt governments of their own (May 10, 1776) and adopts John Adams's preamble calling for the authority of the Crown to be totally suppressed (May 15).

    1776Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789

  4. The Lee Resolution

    June 7, 1776: resolutions that the colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that foreign alliances be sought, and that a plan of confederation be prepared.

    June 7, 1776Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789

  5. The Virginia Declaration of Rights

    The Virginia Convention's declaration of the rights that are “the basis and foundation of government”, adopted June 12, 1776, as the Commonwealth printed it in 1784 or 1785 (the Text Creation Partnership's transcription).

    June 12, 1776The Articles of Confederation; the Declaration of Rights; the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and the Articles of the Definitive Treaty between Great-Britain and the United States of America

  6. Jefferson's Draft Preamble for the Virginia Constitution

    Thomas Jefferson's draft of a preamble for Virginia's constitution, June 1776, its charges against the king close to those of the Declaration of Independence: the fair copy, as Ford's edition of his writings prints it.

    June 1776The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2

  7. The Proceedings on Independence, July 2 and 4, 1776

    The Journals' entries for July 2, 1776, when Congress resolved that the colonies were free and independent States, and July 4, when it agreed to the Declaration, with its text and signers as the Journals print them.

    1776Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789

Editions and sources

The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 1 (1904)

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 1 (1904), pp. 63–73. The day's proceedings of October 14, 1774, and the resolutions as adopted, which the Journals print in the right-hand column beside John Sullivan's draft (left out), with the editor's notes on them. Read from the OCR of the University of California's scan and checked word by word against the OCR of 2 other copies; words the scans could not settle are marked as uncertain. See docs/editions.md.

A Declaration Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, Setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their Taking up Arms ([Portsmouth, N.H.]: sold at the printing-office in Portsmouth [Daniel Fowle], 1775), a broadside

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, Setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their Taking up Arms ([Portsmouth, N.H.]: sold at the printing-office in Portsmouth [Daniel Fowle], 1775), a broadside. The declaration as adopted on July 6, 1775, in the broadside printed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; its woodcut view of Boston and the cut's caption are left out. The text is the Text Creation Partnership's keyed transcription, Evans-TCP N11512 (Evans 14550), released under CC0; letters and words the transcribers could not read are marked as uncertain, as the transcription marks them, never filled in. No scan of this printing was found to check it against. See docs/editions.md.

The Resolution of May 10, 1776, and its Preamble of May 15

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 4 (1906)

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 4 (1906), pp. 342–358. The Journals' entries for May 10, 1776 (the resolution recommending that the colonies adopt governments, and the committee to prepare a preamble) and May 15 (the preamble, and the order to publish both). Read from the OCR of the University of California's scan and checked word by word against the OCR of 3 other copies; words the scans could not settle are marked as uncertain. See docs/editions.md.

The Lee Resolution

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 5 (1906)

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 5 (1906), pp. 425–426. The Journals' entry for June 7, 1776: the resolutions respecting independency as moved and seconded, and their referral to the next day, with the editor's note on the manuscript. Read from the OCR of the University of California's scan and checked word by word against the OCR of 3 other copies; words the scans could not settle are marked as uncertain. See docs/editions.md.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights

The Articles of Confederation; the Declaration of Rights; the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and the Articles of the Definitive Treaty between Great-Britain and the United States of America (Richmond: Dixon and Holt, [1784 or 1785]), pp. 12–14

The Articles of Confederation; the Declaration of Rights; the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and the Articles of the Definitive Treaty between Great-Britain and the United States of America (Richmond: Dixon and Holt, [1784 or 1785]), pp. 12–14. The Declaration of Rights adopted by the Virginia Convention on June 12, 1776, as the Commonwealth printed it by order of the General Assembly in 1784 or 1785, with its heading and sixteen articles. The text is the Text Creation Partnership's keyed transcription, Evans-TCP N15245 (Evans 18818), released under CC0; letters and words the transcribers could not read are marked as uncertain, as the transcription marks them, never filled in. Checked word by word against the OCR of the Internet Archive's scan of the same printing (bim_eighteenth-century_the-articles-of-confeder_virginia-constitution_1784): where the scan reads another word, the word is marked as uncertain, with the scan's reading beside it. See docs/editions.md.

Jefferson's Draft Preamble for the Virginia Constitution

Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2 (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1893)

Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2 (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1893), pp. 7–13. The fair copy of Jefferson's proposed constitution for Virginia, from its title to the end of the clause deposing the king (its preamble, which the Virginia Convention adopted in amended form, and the first enacting clause), as Ford prints it in the right-hand column beside the first draft (left out), with Ford's note on the manuscripts; Jefferson's deletions are printed struck through and are read by OCR as words. Read from the OCR of the University of California's scan and checked word by word against the OCR of 2 other copies; words the scans could not settle are marked as uncertain. See docs/editions.md.

The Proceedings on Independence, July 2 and 4, 1776

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 5 (1906)

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington: Government Printing Office), vol. 5 (1906), pp. 506–516. The Journals' entries on independence: on July 2, 1776, the resolution of independence and the Congress's first day in committee of the whole on the declaration; on July 4, the declaration's adoption, its text as the Journals print it (from the engrossed parchment) with the signers, and the orders for printing and proclaiming it. Read from the OCR of the University of California's scan and checked word by word against the OCR of 3 other copies; words the scans could not settle are marked as uncertain. See docs/editions.md.

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