For over a century scholars have analysed and interpreted the meaning and context of the Declaration of Independence in myriad ways. As Barry Alan Shain points out, "Intellectual historians and political theorists have made every effort to make the Declarations theoretically rich second paragraph the foundation of all manner of American political thought and creeds... There are, a minimum, seven competing schools of interpretation." The documents presented in this edition help in understanding the Declaration and the Revolutionary War against the backdrop provided by the hundreds of continental-level congressional state papers -- declarations, petitions, resolutions, and proclamations -- and the debates and correspondence of those in attendance at the first national congresses.