the declaration of independence was ratified or accepted on july 4.
when was the declaration of independence ratified or accepted?
july 4
another departure from history is that the separation from great britain was accomplished in two steps: the actual vote for independence came on july 2 with the approval of lee's resolution of independence. the wording of the declaration of independence—the statement to the world as to the reasons necessitating the split—was then debated for three days before being approved on july 4. the vote for independence did not hinge on some passages being removed from the declaration, as implied in the film (and the play), since congress had already voted in favor of independence before debating the declaration. for the sake of drama, the play's authors combined the two events. in addition, some historians believe that the declaration was not signed on july 4, as shown in "1776", but was instead signed on august 2, 1776. others point out that the final, official copy of the document was signed by the delegates not on a single date, but over several weeks and months, commencing in july but not being completed until as late as september. the authors of "1776" had the delegates sign the declaration on july 4 for dramatic reasons.
1776 (film)
other countries have used the declaration as inspiration or have directly copied sections from it. these include the haitian declaration of january 1, 1804, during the haitian revolution, the united provinces of new granada in 1811, the argentine declaration of independence in 1816, the chilean declaration of independence in 1818, costa rica in 1821, el salvador in 1821, guatemala in 1821, honduras in (1821), mexico in 1821, nicaragua in 1821, peru in 1821, bolivian war of independence in 1825, uruguay in 1825, ecuador in 1830, colombia in 1831, paraguay in 1842, dominican republic in 1844, texas declaration of independence in march 1836, california republic in november 1836, hungarian declaration of independence in 1849, declaration of the independence of new zealand in 1835, and the czechoslovak declaration of independence from 1918 drafted in washington d.c. with gutzon borglum among the drafters. the rhodesian declaration of independence, ratified in november 1965, is based on the american one as well; however, it omits the phrases "all men are created equal" and "the consent of the governed". the from december 1860 also mentions the u.s. declaration of independence, though it, like the rhodesian one, omits references to "all men are created equal" and "consent of the governed".
united states declaration of independence