How to Cite the Declaration of Independence

This article was co-authored by Gerald Posner and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD. Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.

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When writing a research paper, you may want to use the Declaration of Independence as a reference – especially if you're writing a paper for history or political science. While you do have to provide some sort of citation information, you typically don't need the same depth of publication information since you're dealing with such a well-known document. Where and how you cite the Declaration of Independence depends on whether you're using Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), or Chicago citation style.