Declaration of Independence

<h1>Text Preview</h1> <p> <P>A month after Thomas Paine's <i>Common Sense</i> was published, members of the Second Continental Congress learned of the Prohibitory Act passed by Great Britain in December 1775. This Act closed all colonial ports and defined resistance to the Crown as treason. The Continental Congress responded by authorizing privateers to operate against British shipping. Additionally, Americans discovered that the British government was hiring foreign mercenaries to crush resistance in the colonies. Many colonists associated mercenaries with extreme and lawless behavior, including looting and torture. <br></P> <P>The colonists understood the potential cruelty and losses they could suffer in mercenary attacks. With the threat of mercenaries looming, they concluded that a peaceful reconciliation with England was no longer possible. In April, the Continental Congress opened American ports to international trade. By that time, several revolutionary state governments were already committed to independence from Great Britain. </P> </p> <p> <P>On June 7, 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced to the Continental Congress a resolution: "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." He further called "for forming foreign Alliances and preparing a plan of confederation." Lee's resolution announced America's break from England, but members of Congress believed a more formal explanation was needed to unify the colonies, secure foreign assistance, and justify their actions to the world. Delegates from the middle colonies, however, were reluctant to support the separation from the mother country and postponed a vote on Lee's resolution. </P> </p> <p> <P>In the meantime, the Continental Congress had appointed a committee consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson to prepare a formal declaration. The committee selected Jefferson, the youngest member of the Congress and the delegate who received the most votes in the selection process, to write the first draft. Jefferson spent the next two weeks writing. The committee refined and edited the manuscript before submitting a final version to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1776.</P> </p> <p> <P>Jefferson included several familiar ideas in the <b>Declaration of Independence</b> to justify the American Revolution. He drew from Continental Congress discussions, as well as from prior proclamations of independence issued by colonial governments. When confronted over his appropriation of ideas, Jefferson asserted that his task was not to invent new principles or arguments but to express the American mind.<br></P> <P>The Declaration of Independence consists of three parts. First is the preamble, in which Jefferson referred to the "<b>natural rights</b>" of humankind: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." The latter part of this statement came directly from Enlightenment philosopher John Locke's second treatise, in which he called for "the right to life, liberty, and property."</P> </p> <p> <P>The preamble also includes Locke's contention that people have the right to overthrow their government when it abuses their fundamental rights: "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…" However, the Declaration also cautions that "Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes..."</P> </p> <p> <P>The second part of the Declaration is similar to Thomas Paine's <i>Common Sense</i>, in that Jefferson directly attacked King George III in a lengthy list of the king's violations of American rights. The accusations against King George included imposing taxes on colonists without their consent, keeping standing armies during peacetime, and obstructing trade with other countries. Jefferson also blamed the king for the existence of slavery in America, but Congress later deleted that allegation from the final document. <br></P> <P>Most of the injustices listed in the Declaration were actually acts of Parliament. Jefferson hoped, by placing blame solely on the Crown, to avoid alienating any members of Parliament who were sympathetic to the colonies.</P> </p> <p> <P>The final paragraphs of the Declaration describe the colonists' failed attempts to petition the king and their fruitless appeals to Parliament. Most importantly, they assert the colonies' independence: "…these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved…"</P> </p> <p> <P>On the Fourth of July, the delegates of the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. By defying the king and declaring their independence, the Patriots became rebels subject to the penalties for treason. The American revolutionaries realized that unity was imperative to their success. "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor," vowed Benjamin Franklin. "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." <br></P> <P>The Declaration of Independence did not immediately garner a great deal of attention from people outside the British Empire. Within a few years, however, the document profoundly influenced citizens of other countries hoping to escape tyranny. The "French Declaration of the Rights of Man," most notably, drew upon Jefferson's ideas and words. To this day, the Declaration of Independence remains an inspiration for freedom-loving peoples. </P> </p> <p id="TextCopyright">Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education</p>