The Declaration of Independence A Study In The History of Political IdeasA Study In The History of Political Ideas By Carl Becker, Joe Henry Mitchell The Declaration of Independence A Study In The History of Political Ideas By Carl Becker THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IT is often forgotten that the document which we know as the Declaration of Independence is not the official act by which the Continental Congress voted in favor of separation from Great Britain. June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, on behalf of the Virginia