<P> Legal historian John Phillip Reid has written that the emphasis on the political philosophy of the Declaration has been misplaced . The Declaration is not a philosophical tract about natural rights, argues Reid, but is instead a legal document--an indictment against King George for violating the constitutional rights of the colonists . Historian David Armitage has argued that the Declaration was strongly influenced by de Vattel's The Law of Nations, the dominant international law treatise of the period, and a book that Benjamin Franklin said was "continually in the hands of the members of our Congress". Armitage writes, "Vattel made independence fundamental to his definition of statehood"; therefore, the primary purpose of the Declaration was "to express the international legal sovereignty of the United States". If the United States were to have any hope of being recognized by the European powers, the American revolutionaries first had to make it clear that they were no longer dependent on Great Britain . The Declaration of Independence does not have the force of law domestically, but nevertheless it may help to provide historical and legal clarity about the Constitution and other laws . </P> <P> The Declaration became official when Congress voted for it on July 4; signatures of the delegates were not needed to make it official . The handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by Congress is dated July 4, 1776 . The signatures of fifty - six delegates are affixed; however, the exact date when each person signed it has long been the subject of debate . Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams all wrote that the Declaration had been signed by Congress on July 4 . But in 1796, signer Thomas McKean disputed that the Declaration had been signed on July 4, pointing out that some signers were not then present, including several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date . </P> <P> The Declaration was transposed on paper, adopted by the Continental Congress, and signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress, on July 4, 1776, according to the 1911 record of events by the U.S. State Department under Secretary Philander C. Knox . On August 2, 1776, a parchment paper copy of the Declaration was signed by 56 persons . Many of these signers were not present when the original Declaration was adopted on July 4 . Signer Matthew Thornton from New Hampshire was seated in the Continental Congress in November; he asked for and received the privilege of adding his signature at that time, and signed on November 4, 1776 . </P> <P> Historians have generally accepted McKean's version of events, arguing that the famous signed version of the Declaration was created after July 19, and was not signed by Congress until August 2, 1776 . In 1986, legal historian Wilfred Ritz argued that historians had misunderstood the primary documents and given too much credence to McKean, who had not been present in Congress on July 4 . According to Ritz, about thirty - four delegates signed the Declaration on July 4, and the others signed on or after August 2 . Historians who reject a July 4 signing maintain that most delegates signed on August 2, and that those eventual signers who were not present added their names later . </P>

As free and independent states they would have the power to