England’s Parliament was passing laws and taxes that only applied to the Colonies, not to the people back home.

Parliament expected the Colonies to pay for the cost of the French-Indian War, a pretty reasonable thing, actually.

But the founders said, “No taxation without representation,” because the Colonies didn’t have Representatives in Parliament, as all the history books say.

It took the Colonies years to finally demand their Independence, and even then, many of the smaller, or less populated colonies were still against it — Georgia, for example.

Virginia, which was a major supporter of the war for independence, had more people than nearly all the other colonies, combined, and so Virginia was ready for independence.

John Adams, in Massachusetts, considered himself an American, not a British subject, and he too pushed for independence.

After nearly 170 years, by 1776, it was time for the colonies to be independent, and representation was a good excuse for men who were itching for a fight.

Authors Of Declaration Of Independence

The Declaration of Independence came before the Constitution. The concept of separation of church and state was embodied in the Constitution in two areas, Article VI which states that no religious test shall be required for public service and the First Amendment which states that government will not enact laws to establish religion, which means it will neither prohibit nor promote any religious belief. The first quote you have of Jefferson was an opinion, not a legal document. There are other quotes from Jefferson that directly support the idea of separation of church and state. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was careful to say “Creator” instead of “God”. Jefferson was not a Christian but most probably a Deist, as were many of the Founding Fathers. This is probably the reason that specific word was used.

There was no representation in the British Parliament for the Colonies. The Colonies were taxes, made to house soldiers etc without a representive in the gov.