Founding Documents: Declaration of Independence

Civics 101

NHPR

History, Government, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2019

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

America declared independence on July 2, 1776. But two days later it adopted this radical, revolutionary, inclusive, exclusive, secessionist, compromising, hypocritical, inspirational document. What does it say? What does it ignore? This episode features many scholars with differing opinions on the Declaration: Danielle Allen, Byron Williams, Cheryl Cook-Kallio, Woody Holton, and Emma Bray. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
0:03.6	Very well gentlemen.
0:05.6	We are about to brave the storm in a skiff made of paper.
0:12.0	How shall end that only knows.
0:19.8	I don't know how it shall end, but this, this was our beginning.
0:28.6	Your life forth, 1776.
0:32.7	This was the moment that we became we.
0:39.7	About a month earlier, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia were the following resolution
0:43.5	before the Continental Congress, quote, that these united colonies are, and of right ought
0:50.3	to be, free and independent states that they are absolved from all the legions to the
0:56.5	British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain
1:02.2	is and ought to be totally dissolved.
1:07.9	A committee of five was appointed to draft a statement for the world to declare the
1:13.4	reason for such an action.
1:15.9	Lee's resolution was debated and adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies on July 2nd, 1776.
1:23.8	New York abstained.
1:25.8	And on the 4th, the declaration was adopted.
1:28.9	It was sent to a young Irish immigrant, John Dunlap, official printer of the Congress,
1:34.5	to be turned into about 200 broadsides to be sent around the colonies.
1:39.0	26 of these, called the Dunlap of Broadsides, are known to exist today.
1:45.4	These weren't printed to sit in glass cases or hang on the walls of state.
1:50.6	These were printed to be read out loud.
	...

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