Declaration

In the summer of 1776, the war between the American colonies and Britain had already started. General Washington didn't sign the Declaration of Independence because he was leading the troops in Boston.

Thomas Jefferson, delegate from the state of Virginia, was chosen by the Continental Congress to write up a formal declaration of the intention of the colonies to actually start a new nation, to separate themselves from Britain.

Notice what Jefferson considered obvious and beyond dispute:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

The Creator endowed people with certain rights. Only the people can grant authority to a government to defend their God-given rights. This is the foundation of America's liberty, as the founders saw it, and this is what they signed their names to.