Maier
describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress
into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or
followed it, and with more authority than the colonists would
ever have conceded to the British Parliament; the great
difficulty in making the decision for Independence; the
influence of Paine's Common Sense, which shifted the terms of
debate; and the political maneuvers that allowed Congress to
make the momentous decision.
In Maier's hands, the Declaration of Independence is brought
close to us. She lets us hear the voice of the people as
revealed in the other "declarations" of 1776: the local
resolutions—most of which have gone unnoticed over the past two
centuries—that explained, advocated, and justified Independence
and undergirded Congress's work. Detective-like, she discloses
the origins of key ideas and phrases in the Declaration and
unravels the complex story of its drafting and of the
group-editing job which angered Thomas Jefferson.
Maier also reveals what happened to the Declaration after the
signing and celebration: how it was largely forgotten and then
revived to buttress political arguments of the nineteenth
century; and, most important, how Abraham Lincoln ensured its
persistence as a living force in American society. Finally, she
shows how by the very act of venerating the Declaration as we
do—by holding it as sacrosanct, akin to holy writ—we may
actually be betraying its purpose and its power.
—from the publisher's website
Pauline
Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national
identity and the moral 
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence