When you think of the Declaration of Independence, you probably imagine ancient paper, elaborate cursive, and powdered wigs. Sure, that’s fine. But the reality is much simpler. What the document really is, is a breakup letter. A super formal, super public, and super risky breakup letter to King George III and Great Britain.

The story leading up to July 4th, 1776 began much earlier. Following the conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763, Britain found itself with enormous debt. They attempted to recover this by taxing the colonies via acts like the 1765 Stamp Act, or the 1767 Townshend Acts. With no representation in Parliament, the colonies fought the idea, shouting "no taxation without representation." Britain did not yield. After events such as the Boston Massacre (1770) and Boston Tea Party (1773), the colonies had become openly defiant. By April 1775 they began the war at Lexington and Concord. However, no official declaration for independence had yet been made.

By June 1776, this was to change. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a proposal to the Second Continental Congress stating the colonies should be "free and independent States." A special committee was formed, made up of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman to write out an official declaration explaining why. They selected Jefferson to write the initial draft since he was known for excellent and powerful writing. At the time, he was a mere 33 years of age and he was given 17 days to do this while living in a rented room in Philadelphia.

Much of his writing drew heavily from the works of other philosophers that were already popular around the time, including British thinker John Locke. Locke proposed that there were natural rights inherent to man, such as life, liberty, and property; and that government could not operate without the consent of the people they governed. It was Jefferson that changed Locke’s idea and made the famous phrase "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."

From ideas to evidence, the Declaration included an entire section listing out 27 offenses the King of Great Britain, George III, had committed. He was accused of dissolving representative houses, having "standing armies in the time of peace in the Colonies, without our consent," "cutting off our trade with all parts of the world," and "imposing Taxes on us without our Consent," to name a few. The original declaration also called for the abolition of the slave trade, a passage was stripped in order to get the support of the southern colonies of Georgia and South Carolina.

This committee was not done editing Jefferson’s work after the initial draft. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin both made suggestions. This draft then sat before the Second Continental Congress, who spent two days making 86 more additions and edits. In total they removed about 1/4th of what Jefferson wrote. Jefferson later admitted he "writhed a little" watching his words get cut. The document was then officially adopted on July 4th, 1776. The delegates officially did not sign until August 2nd. Hancock signed first; the story goes that he intended for the king to be able to read the signature without his glasses.

Legally speaking, it now announced that the 13 colonies were “free and independent states” that had all the powers that a state could, from raising armies to making alliances to engaging in trade. It was telling the world that these people saw themselves as a new nation. It also provided soldiers with a purpose beyond the anger they felt towards Britain. The text was printed, handed out as newspapers and read aloud in public places. Some people might not have been too pleased, but they at least understood what the implications were. To sign the declaration was considered treason. If the Revolution failed, the signers could be hanged.

The declaration was imperfect. It did not include equality for enslaved people, women, or Native Americans. The text was criticized as being hypocritical by people like Frederick Douglas. In 1852, he asked “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” However, it still provided a statement of ideals that could be appealed to throughout history. These ideals were recalled in 1863 when Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg and in 1963 with Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech.

In its modern day form, the original parchment can be found in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the ink having faded to be unreadable. The ideas are not so much. A group of men chose not to live under a tyrannical king and laid down why on paper. They signed their names, published their final draft, and took it from there.