獨立宣言是一份於1776年7月4日由托馬斯·傑斐遜起草，並由其它13個殖民地代表簽署的最初聲明美國從英國獨立的檔案。早在獨立前的一百多年間，歐洲啟蒙思想就開始在北美傳播，為《獨立宣言》的發表奠定了理論基礎。在歐洲啟蒙思想的薰陶下，北美殖民地也產生了自己的啟蒙思想家，代表人物是班傑明·富蘭克林（1706-1790）和托馬斯·傑斐遜（1743-1826），他們反對奴隸制，主張人民享有自由、平等的權利。並且喊出了：“沒有代表權，就不得徵稅”（“No Taxation without Representation”）的口號。這句口號原本是英國政治的基本原則，在英國貴族與王室的鬥爭中使用過，但獨立戰爭期間被殖民者用來捍衛自己的權利。
1776年6月，麻薩諸塞州的約翰·亞當斯、麻薩諸塞州的班傑明·富蘭克林、維吉尼亞州的托馬斯·傑斐遜、紐約州的羅伯特·李文斯頓（Robert R. Livingston）、康乃迪克州的羅傑·謝爾曼（Roger Sherman）（即後世所稱之五人小組/Committee of Five）聚集起草合宜之文告以宣示獨立之決心。五人小組決議，宣言由托馬斯·傑斐遜獨立起草後對富蘭克林與亞當斯展示，富蘭克林一人即至少修訂了其中48處。傑斐遜後據此謄錄了一份修訂版，由五人小組於1776年6月28日上呈大陸議會。
1776年6月7日，維吉尼亞的理查·亨利·李（Richard Henry Lee）上呈李氏決議文（Lee Resolution）至大陸議會；7月2日，正式宣告獨立。決議文中寫道：“ 茲決議：合眾殖民地（United Colonies）為，亦應為，自由獨立之國家，其免除自身對不列顛王室之擁戴；其與大不列顛國之一切政治聯繫為，亦應為，徹底無效。 ”
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
美利堅合眾國十三個州一致通過的宣言
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.
為了保障這些權利，人類才在他們之間建立政府，而政府之正當權力，是經被治理者的同意而產生的。
That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
他拒絕批准對公眾利益最有益、最必要的法律。
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
他一再解散各州的議會，因為它們以無畏的堅毅態度反對他侵犯人民的權利。
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands .
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
他拒絕批准建立司法權力的法律，藉以阻撓司法工作的推行。
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
他把法官的任期、薪金數額和支付，完全置於他個人意志的支配之下。
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.
他建立新官署，派遣大批官員，騷擾我們人民，並耗盡人民必要的生活物質。
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
他在和平時期，未經我們的立法機關同意，就在我們中間維持常備軍。
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
他力圖使軍隊獨立於民政之外，並凌駕於民政之上。
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
在我們中間駐紮大批武裝部隊；
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
用假審訊來包庇他們，使他們殺害我們各州居民而仍然逍遙法外；
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
切斷我們同世界各地的貿易；
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
未經我們同意便向我們強行徵稅；
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
在許多案件中剝奪我們享有陪審制的權益；
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
羅織罪名押送我們到海外去受審；
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:
取消我們的憲章，廢除我們最寶貴的法律，並且根本上改變我們各州政府的形式；
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
中止我們自己的立法機關行使權力，宣稱他們自己有權就一切事宜為我們制定法律。
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
他宣布我們已不屬他保護之列，並對我們作戰，從而放棄了在這裡的政務。
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our people.
他在我們的海域大肆掠奪，蹂躪我們沿海地區，焚燒我們的城鎮，殘害我們人民的生命。
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpation, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
1823年，印刷專家威廉·史東（William J. Stone）銜國務卿約翰·昆西·亞當斯之命，製作與原件毫無二致之雕版印刷本。史東使用濕墨轉印法，即濕潤原件之表面，並將原件上的部份油墨轉印至一片銅質平板上。該銅質轉印板後經蝕刻，用以反覆壓印，製作副本。1776年製作的原稿因十九世紀時的不當保存而歷盡風霜，史東的雕版印刷本反而成為現代重製品的基礎。
美國的獨立宣言受1581年荷蘭共和國宣告獨立之影響，籲求誓絕（Oath of Abjuration）。蘇格蘭王國於1320年的阿布羅斯宣誓（Declaration of Arbroath）作為史上第一次的獨立宣言，毫無疑問也具有影響力。傑斐遜個人曾製作維吉尼亞人權宣言，於1776年見采。
哲理影響
獨立宣言受美國共和主義精神所影響，即以之為自由權之基本架構。另外，宣言中也反映啟蒙時期的哲學，包含自然律、自決、與自然神論等觀點。宣言中的理想，甚至其中一些片斷，直接引用英國哲學家約翰·洛克之著作，尤其是其以“文明政府之真實起源、範疇、與終結之各項專論”為題之政府二論（Second Treatise on Government）。於其論文中，洛克擁護由受統治者成立政府之信念。洛克寫道，人類擁有天賦人權。其他獨立宣言所受到的影響包括阿爾傑農·西德尼之演講與著作天助自助者（Wawrzyniec Grzymala Goslicki），以及托馬斯·潘恩。據傑斐遜之理念，獨立之目的為“非為尋找前此未有之新原則，或新論述……而是置事物之常理於世人眼前，以簡潔之語句搏取贊同，並使之以我等受迫之立場自我判斷。”班傑明.富蘭克林
實際影響
若干史家相信獨立宣言曾用以作為宣傳工具，即美國人嘗試為其叛英行為立說，以說服不願起事之殖民地加入，並對可能施以援手之外國建立正當性。獨立宣言亦曾用以結合大陸議會之成員。大多數的簽署人都明白，自己簽的是與革命事業成功與否息息相關的生死狀，而本宣言縮短革命與成功之距離。（或如班傑明·富蘭克林所挖苦的：“我等而今務鬚生死與共，否則定遭個別處決。”（"We must all now hang together, or we will all surely hang separately."）
簽署《獨立宣言》
托馬斯·傑斐遜
傑斐遜(站立)、亞當斯和富蘭克林
波士頓慘案
獨立宣言
獨立宣言
獨立宣言原本
獨立宣言
班傑明.富蘭克林
約翰·尼克森向眾人宣讀《獨立宣言》
手捧《獨立宣言》的自由女神