<Tr> <Th> Purpose </Th> <Td> To announce and explain separation from Great Britain </Td> </Tr> <P> The United States Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 . The Declaration announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain would regard themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states no longer under British rule . With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America . The declaration was signed by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia . </P> <P> The Declaration was passed on July 2 with no opposing votes . A committee of five had drafted it to be ready when Congress voted on independence . John Adams, a leader in pushing for independence, had persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress edited to produce the final version . The Declaration was a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War . Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America"--although Independence Day is actually celebrated on July 4, the date that the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved . </P> <P> After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms . It was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public . The source copy used for this printing has been lost and may have been a copy in Thomas Jefferson's hand . Jefferson's original draft is preserved at the Library of Congress, complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, as well as Jefferson's notes of changes made by Congress . The best - known version of the Declaration is a signed copy that is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and which is popularly regarded as the official document . This engrossed copy was ordered by Congress on July 19 and signed primarily on August 2 . </P>

Who wrote the declaration of independence and when was it ratified by the 2nd continental congress