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Commentary on Declaration of Independence
I.Preamble The Declaration of Independence is important because it inspired many revolutionary efforts throughout the world and contributed to Americans' understanding of their values as a new nation.The introduction, called the preamble, to the Declaration of Independence is especially important because it builds connections between philosophical theory and practical politics, exprees the fundamental values of the new American government, and also appeals to other nations to accept the new nation.The introduction relies heavily on the philosophical and political ideas of the Enlightenment period of 18th century Europe, including the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, Jean Jacques Roueau, and, most particularly, John Locke.Locke believed that humans, by nature, had the right to protection of life, health, liberty and poeions.Jefferson altered this slightly when he claims the unalienable rights include “life, liberty and the pursuit of happine.” Locke also strongly opposed the divine right of kings--which held that kings held absolute power because they were placed on their throne by God--and insisted that the people had the right to consent to their government and that the power of law making resides with the people.Jefferson included this theory when he writes “to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Jefferson's declaration helped to put Locke's philosophies into the realm of real-world politics.Many revolutions that occurred after the American Revolution cited Jefferson's Declaration of Independence as justification in overthrowing a corrupt and dictatorial power.The introduction to the Declaration of Independence also is important for the ways it contributed to Americans' understanding of their rights as citizens.Americans continue to believe that the phrase “all men are created equal” is a fundamental “law” in the country.While this phrase was included in the introduction to the declaration, it appears nowhere else in official documents defining rights granted under the U.S.Government.The Declaration of Independence holds no legal authority in our country, yet it continues to be cited as the foundation for American equality.Various groups throughout history have criticized American “equality”, referring to the introduction of the declaration for support.Critics point to Jefferson's contradictory meage regarding equality in reference to slavery.Although Jefferson stated that all men are created equal and have the right to liberty, he ran a large plantation and was a slaveholder.Other critics point to the use of the word “men” as excluding women citizens.The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention used Jefferson's format and style to draft The Declaration of Sentiments, a document declaring women's unfair treatment by the U.S.government and by society.Both as a source for debate about equality and as a definition of the ideological foundation of the new nation, the introduction to the Declaration played a crucial role in defining American values and laws.The introduction is also significant because Jefferson insisted on the importance of explaining the rebellious actions of the 13 colonies to the nations and statesmen of the world.The most powerful nations of the world in the 18th century were monarchies.The ideas of Jefferson could serve not only to threaten Great Britain's colonial empire, but the colonial empires of other nations in Europe.Recognizing the importance of maintaining good diplomatic relations with European nations, Jefferson sought to explain the actions of the 13 colonies in rational terms.Anticipating that this document would influence rebellions elsewhere, Jefferson clarified that governments should not be overthrown for trivial causes.Instead, Jefferson explained that only “despotic” or totalitarian governments should be overthrown.II.The list of abuses reflects the colonists' belief that their rights as British Citizens had been slowly eroded ever since the French and Indian War ended in 1763.Although the Declaration does not name the specific legislation paed by Parliament, its listing of the abuses and usurpation effectively covers the history of the King and Parliament's attempts to gain more power and control over the colonies.The list crescendos with the most offensive actions, aimed at total suppreion of the colonies, that were put into effect just prior to the signing of the Declaration.Many of the acts that the Declaration criticizes were intended to tighten royal control over the colonies.The history of Parliament's acts unfolded over a period of 13 years during which royal attempts to squash the civil liberties of colonists met with heightened colonial resistance.Beginning with The Proclamation of 1763, Parliament stripped colonists of the right to settle in the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Miiippi River.This meant that although many colonists had given their lives to defend that land from the French, they would not be permitted to reap the benefits.Shortly after the proclamation, Parliament decided that the colonies would help repay the war debts, and enacted laws such as the Sugar Act(1764), the Stamp Tax(1765), the Townshend Acts(1767)and the Tea Act(1773).When the colonists protested against these acts, the King and Parliament responded by further suppreing the rights of colonists.Legislation in 1774 referred to by colonists as the “Intolerable Acts” struck especially hard at the civil rights of the colony of Maachusetts.The Intolerable Acts differed from previous legislation.These acts struck not only at the economic freedom of the colonies, but at their political rights and legislative independence as well.Not only was the port of Boston closed to all trade, but a military governor was also appointed and the people of Maachusetts no longer had the right to elect their representatives, select jurors, or hold town meetings.Additionally, British soldiers accused of crimes would be tried in England, not in the colony, and a new Quartering Act forced colonists in Maachusetts to feed and house British soldiers.The paage of the Intolerable Acts indicated to many colonists, even those not living in Maachusetts, that the King and Parliament were more interested in aerting unconditional control than in preserving the civil liberties of the colonists.The basic principle upon which the Declaration rests is that colonists, as British citizens, believed they were entitled to the rights and privileges granted by the Magna Carta, and the British Bill of Rights of 1689.Among other things, these documents established that the King was not above the law, that the people, represented in parliament, had a right to endorse or reject taxation, and that citizens were entitled to a trial by jury of their peers.Additionally, the Declaration relied on precedent: most British colonies had enjoyed self-rule and had been governed through their own legislative bodies since their founding.By 1774, most of the colonists that had once protested “no taxation without representation” found themselves without any representation whatsoever, neither in Parliament nor in any colonial house of representation.Towards the end of the list of abuses, the Declaration focuses attention on a few specific incidents that demonstrate the King's disregard for colonial life and liberty, the danger of colonists remaining divided on the iue of independence, and the preparations being made by Great Britain for an all-out war.These statements served, in many cases, to convince moderates in the Second Continental Congre to see that reconciliation was not a poibility and to cast their vote in favor of independence.The British attack on colonists and the lo of American lives at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775 and the Battle of Bunker Hill in June of 1775 demonstrated the King's “waging war against us” and his disregard for American lives.In December of 1775, Parliament withdrew British military protection from the colonies and enacted a policy of seizure and confiscation of American ships and sailors(“...[King George] has plundered our seas...he has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas...”).This action also left colonists living on the frontier, especially those in Georgia, with no military protection from Native American attacks(“...he has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the mercile Indian savages...”).Furthermore, the heightened tension between colonists and the King began to overflow into hostile relations between those colonists loyal to the king(Tories)and those seeking independence(Whigs).This tension actually erupted into an armed battle between colonists in early 1776 in the Battle at Moore's Creek Bridge(“He has excited domestic insurrections among us...”).It is interesting to note that the Declaration reserved his most scathing language to describe the King's use of mercenaries.Accusing George III's mercenaries of cruelty “scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation, ”the Declaration aims to evoke support from moderates within the colonies by revealing that the British civilization in which they took pride was no more than a cruel and tyrannical monarchy.Interestingly, Jefferson devoted approximately one-fourth of the abuses in his original draft of the Declaration of Independence to the topic of slavery.Jefferson held the King accountable for maintaining and protecting slavery as an institution in the colonies.Not surprisingly, the moderate congre, already fearful of being too radical, removed all references to slavery from the document.It remains a source of historical debate why a slave-owning man like Jefferson would have devoted so much intellectual energy to criticizing slavery and to attempting to remove it from the colonies.III.Between 1763 and 1776, American colonists made many attempts to organize in protest against the acts of Parliament.The Declaration of Independence represents the last in a long chain of declarations that began with the declaration of the Stamp Act Congre of 1765, which stated colonists were entitled to the same rights as Englishmen.This document also affirmed that taxing the colonists without their consent was a violation of their rights as British Citizens and that Parliament had no right to tax colonists.In 1774, after the paage of the Intolerable Acts, these themes would surface again in a document written by the First Continental Congre called the Declaration of Rights and Grievances.This document clarified the Stampt Act Congre declaration by stating only colonial legislatures had the right to tax the colonists.Additionally, this document declared the Intolerable Acts unconstitutional and criticized the King and Parliament for diolving colonial aemblies, maintaining a standing army in peacetime, and for enforcing heavy taxation.Meeting again as the Second Continental Congre in May of 1775, the delegates understood that things had only worsened between the colonists and the British government.Although fighting had already broken out between minutemen and British troops, many delegates still preed for a peaceful reconciliation.This congre iued a Declaration of Causes of Taking-up Arms and sent an Olive-Branch Petition to the King to humbly request that he negotiate a peaceful reconciliation.Once again, the King ignored the requests of the colonists and responded instead by sending an additional 20,000 troops to the colonies.Throughout the struggle to aert their rights, colonial leaders understood the importance of maintaining unity between the 13 colonies.Samuel Adams knew that the people would have to be persuaded to view an attack on one colony as an attack on all colonies.To help maintain a unified protest, Samuel Adams organized Committees of Correspondence in 1772 to ensure that colonies could stay informed about new developments regarding the British King and Parliament.This information network proved crucial when the First Continental Congre agreed to boycott trade with Great Britain and to refuse to use British goods until a resolution was reached.During the Second Continental Congre, patriot leaders carefully waited to declare independence until all delegations unanimously supported it.Although the colonies were technically at war with Great Britain for most of the time the congre met, it took them 14 months to write the formal declaration of war.After the rejection of the Olive Branch Petition, the publication of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and the hiring of German mercenaries, all of which took place in early 1776, the themes stated in earlier declarations were finally put to use to justify separation rather than reconciliation.The Declaration of Independence relied on the content and claims of earlier declarations, but firmly stated that ten years of peaceful political and economic actions had failed to reach the desired effect.Therefore, as concluded in this section, the King and Parliament left the colonists no other choice but to seek separation through military means.IV.The conclusion is important in clarifying the identity of the new nation, as well as defining the powers granted to the new government.Many of the delegates to the Second Continental Convention saw the Declaration of Independence as important because of the meage it would send to foreign nations.They were especially concerned with enlisting the military help of the French in their war against Great Britain.They therefore thought it neceary to aert clearly that they had no allegiance or connection to Great Britain.The new nation is not only named in this conclusion as the United States of America, but its authority is defined as well.The conclusion serves to establish the authority of the Second Continental Congre over iues of international affairs, war and peace, and trade.With these powers in hand, the Congre is empowered to run the affairs of government related to the declared war.However, the conclusion is unclear regarding the individual states' responsibilities to each other.The Declaration describes itself as a union of colonies, each of which is a free and independent state.This is problematic because the statement indicates that the colonies are one united whole, while simultaneously stating that each state is free and independent.A few sentences later, the Declaration states that the former colonies, “ as free and independent states,...have full power to levy war,” thereby indicating that each state, individually, has the right to levy war, make peace, etc.This inconsistency would later turn into a debate about the nature of the government of the United States.Was the United States a loose confederation of independent states, each of which could act on behalf of its own interest? Or, was the United States a strong centralized nation in which the powers of the whole were stronger than the powers of each individual state? The Declaration states that the colonists have pledged mutual allegiance, but does that mean the pledge will continue beyond the war effort?
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