Minnesota Government
Founding Documents
Declaration of Independence 1776
The Declaration of Independence marks our nation’s birth and describes the reasons for its separation from England. The declaration set in motion the actions that would establish an autonomous nation on the North American continent and give that new nation incentive to gain territory and increase strength. America would be the first of a new kind of nation that Europe had not seen before.
The above image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving made by printer William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently reproduced version of the document. The original Declaration, now exhibited in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in Washington, DC, has faded badly—largely because of poor preservation techniques during the 19th century.