Signing the Declaration of Independence

The 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, what was to become one of the most important and influencial documents in history, agreed to "mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Apparently these men were quite serious to their cause, for they all knew they were committing treason.
Fundamentally the Declaration of Independence is at the same time a statement of intent to renounce British rule over the colonies and an argument justifying that intent. The justification for why the colonies had chosen to break with England lies in the philosophical position that human beings -- commoner and king alike -- are first bound by "the laws of nature" and that these natural laws should preempt the traditional notions of sovereign rule by divine right. This natural law theory is predicated on various far-reaching assumptions or "self-evident truths."
The most important assumptions made by the Declaration of Independence are that a...