The Declaration of Independence, signed and issued to the public 250 years ago this month, was the banner under which the American Revolution was fought. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." The Declaration, "the sheet anchor of American republicanism," as Lincoln called it, stated the ideals behind the revolution, but played little role either in starting or ending the conflict. The battles of Lexington and Concord, which ignited the war, had been fought more than a year earlier, in April 1775; the war would continue for another five years until it was settled in 1781 by the American victory at Yorktown. Without victory in the war for independence, the Declaration of Independence might have been relegated to a footnote in history.