The Declaration of Independence was the culminating instance of the new genre of political writing perfected by the American Whigs between the town of Boston's Votes and Proceedings (of November 1772) and the Declaration of July 4, 1776. The table on the right shows the impressive number of popular declarations published in a period of about three and a half years. Although the purpose of these popular declarations were specific and varied, they have common features. These include: an account of the political emergency that requires this extraordinary mode of address; a list of the grievences and rights violations of Britain and her representatives in the colonies; a general account of the rights and liberties of the colonists, described either as 'ancient English liberties', or, as in the case of the Declaration of 1776, as univeral human rights. Each of these declarations is grounded in the correct legal procedure of government agency (of town, county, assembly); it is signed rather than anonymous; it is a public rather than a private document; it is addressed not to an instituted authority (like the petition) but to the people; it offers a more or less systematic account of the rights and liberties of the people; and it explicitly invokes, and offers an example of, the virtuous independence of a group of citizens. Implicit in the popular declaration is the republican doctrine of the ultimate sovereignty of the people.

There is a paradox regarding political and literary success of the Declaration of 1776. Most Americans have forgotten the hundreds of declarations which, by laying the generic foundation and reception habits of the popular declaration, made the Declaration of 1776 possible.