On this episode of 60-Second Civics, learn about how ideas from natural rights philosophy were used to justify the American Revolution in the Declaration of Independence.

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Thomas Jefferson used ideas from natural rights philosophy in the Declaration of Independence.

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The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence contains some of the most fundamental principles and values of natural rights philosophy underlying the American political system.

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The Declaration of Independence is divided into four important parts. Learn what these parts are on today's 60-Second Civics.

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The Declaration of Independence, passed by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announced the final, momentous step in the colonists' resistance to the British government by rejecting the authority of the Crown.

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The Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence was Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and a young Virginian named Thomas Jefferson.

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The Second Continental Congress decided to resist the British a few weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord. They asked a committee to write a document explaining why they felt it was time to declare independence.

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Revolution loomed as the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774. Congress banned trade with Britain and ordered the arrest of some of the leading colonists of Massachusetts. Fighting broke out in 1775 when British troops marched to the towns of Lexington and Concord.

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Learn about two revolutionary events in the colonies: the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party

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The Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty organized resistance in the colonies to the Stamp Act, the Tea Act and other British laws designed to exercise control over the American colonies.

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