Explain how exactly the Declaration of Independence was a declaration of war.

Answer 1

A little background might help you here.

During the Enlightenment, writers challenged ideas about government and society by advocating the use of reason to discover truth. They applied the scientific method to society and politics and began to propose new ideas about government.

These ideas then spread across Europe and eventually to colonial America. Enlightened opinions influenced the debate about British rule while political activists, like Thomas Paine, convinced many neutral colonists to support independence.

There are several grievances made clear in the Declaration of Independence, "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States..." Jefferson also discusses the idea of "unalienable rights," that come from "the consent of the governed" ("That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.").

Jefferson, among other things, is making it clear the colonists have been mistreated by the British, that the colonists have tried to fix things but the system is broken, and now is the time to dissolve the relationship between the colonies and England ("these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States").