What did the Declaration of Independence do? Nonresidents who want to become U.S. citizens are expected to know. When the ABA recently posed the same question to a sample of U.S. adults, a correct answer wasn’t guaranteed.
The proper response is that the declaration, which is the event we celebrate on the Fourth of July, announced our nation’s independence from Great Britain. When the ABA Survey of Civic Literacy 2019 gave its multiple-choice quiz, 77% answered this question correctly. Those who answered incorrectly indicated that the document either freed slaves in Confederate states, declared independence from France, or gave women a national right to vote.
