The Declaration of Independence was passed on the 4^th of July 1776. It incorporated the notions of John Locke’s ideas of natural rights which were life, liberty and property. In addition it used the idea of popular sovereignty. This is the principle that the authority of the government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives and who are the source of all political power. It is the revolutionary and democratic notion that parliament should be representative of the people and elected by the people. However, it also included many grievances against the King for example the ‘standing armies’ and the imposition of taxes. It marked the dissolving of political and economic ties with the British government and the declaration of the revolutionary war.

The preamble in the introduction of the Declaration of Independence is as follows:

‘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.’