What comes after the preamble in the declaration of independence

There is something written on the back of the Declaration of Independence , but it isn't a secret map or code. No one knows who wrote this, but it was probably added as a label when the document was rolled up for storage many years ago. Once the Declaration of Independence had been written and signed, printer John Dunlap was asked to make about copies to be distributed throughout the colonies. In , someone discovered a previously unknown Dunlap Broadside. There are only 26 known surviving Dunlap Broadsides today.

The Declaration explained why the Thirteen Colonies at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America. The Lee Resolution for independence was passed on July 2 with no opposing votes. The Committee of Five had drafted the Declaration to be ready when Congress voted on independence. John Adams , a leader in pushing for independence, had persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, [2] which Congress edited to produce the final version. The Declaration was a formal explanation of why Congress had voted to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

See more at the National Archives. Declaration pages at Duke U. Federalist 9. Henry, Address. View Multiple Translations. Facsimile image. Preamble 1.