<P> The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms was a document issued by the Second Continental Congress on July 6, 1775, to explain why the Thirteen Colonies had taken up arms in what had become the American Revolutionary War . The final draft of the Declaration was written by John Dickinson, who incorporated language from an earlier draft by Thomas Jefferson . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Wikisource has original text related to this article: Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Declaration of the causes and necessity of taking up arms document