Oct. 4, 1774: Declaration of Independence from Britain

A page from the declaration recorded at this town meeting on October 4, 1774. Source: Ray Raphael and the Journal of the American Revolution

It is often said that the Revolutionary War began in 1775 with Lexington and Concord — the “shot heard round the world” between the British and Continental armies — and was put into words by the Founders with the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Yet the first recorded declaration of independence was issued many months earlier by everyday people in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

On October 4, 1774, residents gathered at a town meeting to demand a new Massachusetts government be elected by the people, divorced from the British Crown and Parliament. Their declaration set the stage for nearly 100 more that would sweep through the Thirteen Colonies before the summer of 1776.

Read more in the lesson “Founding” Documents We Don’t Learn About.