The Declaration at 250

The Declaration of Independence is not something to be taken for granted. Even in rebellion, Americans might have chosen to remain in the British empire, seeking only concessions from king and parliament. Having decided upon independence, they could have issued a more perfunctory document to notify foreign powers that they could now open diplomatic relations with the American government and treat the conflict between Britain and America as an interstate war, not merely a British internal matter. The Declaration of Independence as we know it was not inevitable: The Committee of Five to whom the Continental Congress delegated the task of drafting the document could have chosen a penman other than Thomas Jefferson. And, of course, America might have lost the war, reducing the Declaration of Independence to a memento of treason.