| The New Republic | George Washington |
| Continental Congress | Constitutional Convention |
The Continental Congress voting for independence, by Edward Savage, after 1796
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery
| "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."
--From the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 |
 |
French engraving of a crowd in New York City pulling down a statue of King George III, about 1776 |
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