Independence required unanimity across colonial delegations

Evidence

Reconciliation had lost its purchase as even a secondary wish of Congress as a whole, but not yet within every delegation, and, as even Adams acknowledged, independence required unanimity. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 126

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the unanimity norm that structured the drafting and debate of the Declaration — a key institutional constraint.
• XREF: connects to: Assembly instructions constrained four middle colonies’ delegates against independence — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 180; Congress sought unanimity among colonies before declaring independence. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 207; Delaware, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania delegates sided with independence to preserve colonial unanimity — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 221