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Mural by Barry Faulkner in Rotunda of Charters for Freedom.
Information found here: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/faulkner-murals |
Each year on July 4th we in
America celebrate Independence Day. We do so with homemade ice cream, fireworks,
picnics, family get-togethers, and many other festive activities. I encourage
my fellow citizens to also take time to honor the historical importance
of this day.
The Declaration of Independence is my
favorite of historical documents. It, along with the US Constitution, serves as
the seat of my patriotism.
I invite the reader to take a few
moments and read the following outline on the Declaration of Independence so as
to be better informed of its content and perhaps even context. I have sectioned
off different parts of the Declaration to make it a bit easier to grasp the
meaning of that part of the document.
I am not an historian. I hold no
professional or academic credentials relating to the document. I have, however, diligently researched
Revolution and Constitutional documents, and frequently read the 'Federalist
Papers.'
The primary source of information
regarding the Declaration for this blog post is “The Declaration of
Independence” written by Carl Becker and published in 1948 by Alfred A Knoph.
Carl was Professor Emeritus of History in Cornell University.
I invite the reader to consider that
the Declaration, with its statements of American idealism, charges against the
King of England and listing of grievances, served as a foundation upon which to
compose what was to become the Constitution of the United States. I believe
that the ideals, the charges, and the grievances mentioned in the Declaration inspired
the design of the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights.
The Roman numerals of the first part, my
comments, correlate to the Roman numerals of the second part, the text of the
Declaration.
As an example, Roman numeral I of my
comments correlate to Roman numeral I of the Declaration.
The Declaration presented here, except
for the Roman numerals I inserted to create the various sections, is a “copy
and paste” form the National Archives website:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
The Following are my sections and
comments regarding those sections.
I.
-The unanimous Declaration -This
section sets forth the purpose of Declaration and to whom it is addressed. I
believe it is addressed to the leaders of other nations, though none of them
are mentioned. “A decent respect to the opinions of mankind” indicates to me
that it is the world at large to which this document is addressed. I think it
is so such that assistance from other nations would be courted and invited. And
also, to develop national diplomatic recognition and relationship.
Perhaps it also served as a morale booster
for George Washington’s troops; giving them a definitive reason for their
service and sacrifice.
Please note that King George III is not addressed
directly within the body of grievances stated. The King is referred in the
third person “he”.
II.
-We hold these truths to be self-evident
-Here we have the beginnings of American ideals. It is not that Jefferson nor
any of his contemporaries invented these ideals, but they are definitely
claiming them as American characteristics… “Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness”. Please notice that none of those ideals is defined nor
is there a scope of application presented. I do suggest that the relevant
context for the meaning of those words collectively can be understood as enjoying
a condition of existence free from the despotism described in the list of
grievances presented in section VII.
Becker, in his book, (chapter 2, The
Natural Rights Philosophy) mentions John Locke as addressing natural and
political rights during the 1600s but asserts that Jefferson reaches to an even
higher authority which grants rights…”they are endowed by their Creator”.
III.
--That to secure these
rights, -This section puts forth the idea that government is charged
with the responsibility to bring about the afore mentioned ideals. This
government comes about by the consent of those governed. In stark contrast to
the prevailing notions at the time, this document is saying that kings are not
the legitimate government as they have not gained their position and power by
the will of the people. This is a huge claim to make because the traditional
point of view at that time was that God placed kings in position and power.
Government, in this document, far from being denounced as an evil, is
positively acknowledged as a valid institution.
IV.
-Prudence, indeed, will dictate- Here
it is acknowledged that stability of social structures will never be perfect,
convenient, or even efficient. This section affirms that long-standing
governments should not be changed for” light and transient causes”. Looking
forward to the Constitution, I think our founders and framers worked to create
a form of government that could be tweaked, modified, and transformed
throughout history without resorting to “abolishing” the overall structure of
government.
V.
-But when a long train of abuses and usurpations- This
section asserts that what the colonists complain of is not mere inconveniences
imposed by an authority. Nor is it that the colonists had competing political
or ideological positions in conflict with the King. The complaint was that
the King by intention had sought to render the colonists without any rights
whatsoever. Jefferson suggests that when such a condition exists, then, and
only then, should the governed population seek to make such drastic changes of
government.
VI.
--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies
-And so, the colonists have suffered to the point that they could no longer
keep patience under such tyranny.
VII.
-To prove this, let the facts be
submitted to a candid world-. Yes, we see here that the world is to whom
this document is addressed! And the grievances stated, I count 27, are of such
magnitude of cruelty that it would be a preposterous notion that a people would
continue tolerating those conditions.
VIII. -In every stage of
these Oppressions -Evidence of attempts at reconciliation,
redress, and correction is presented. The idea here is that these colonists are
not just reactionary “hot heads” or willy-nilly rebels. They have gone out of
their way to make a tolerable peace.
IX.
-We, therefore, the
Representatives -This section states that this declaration
is made on behalf of the colonists and under the representative authority given
by the colonists. It is in great contrast to what had been the historical
precedence of Kings claiming authority from “God”.
X.
-That these United Colonies are, and of Right -The
language here is much based on the Richard Henry Lee, (representative from
Virginia) resolution put forward on June 7 for consideration by the Second
Continental Congress and voted on July 2, 1776. Therefore, I consider July 2,
1776 as the true and operative date of declaration.
XI.
-And for the support of
this Declaration -Perhaps it was political correctness of
his day which prompted Jefferson to invoke “divine Providence”. I say so
because what I know of Jefferson at the time was that he had believed in a God
that had set creation in motion but did not intervene or interact in its
historic affairs. In any case, agency beyond man is relied upon as the signers
of this document placed themselves in grave danger from the King of the most
powerful Empire on the face of the planet. They were risking their lives. If
they failed, they surely would have had any and all of their financial
resources confiscated, history would have been very unflattering of these
signers of this document such that their honor, far from being considered
“sacred”, would have been taught in history books as notorious, criminal, and
treasonous. Think…had the British won, the history books, written by British
historians, would have labeled it “The War of the Treasonous Colonists” and we
would be observing Benedict Arnold Day instead of celebrating Independence Day!
Much of the language and argument put
forth in the Declaration was present in a document crafted by Thomas Jefferson
and John Dickinson and then signed by John Hancock about one year earlier. The
document “The Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms” can be
read here:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/causes-and-necessity-taking-arms
In Summary, those colonists had
suffered absolute tyranny and despotism to the point of personal and community
exhaustion. As a last resort they found it necessary to break the ties with
England, to declare that break to the world and to remedy the abuses by
creating their own Constitutional form of government.
We are the beneficiaries of
their unprecedented vision, grave risk, and honorable sacrifice! So, along with
those fireworks and homemade ice cream, let’s remember to honor all of those
brave signatories of liberty. You
can find their names here:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/signers-factsheet
I
extend to you…Happy 2nd of July!
The
following is a “copy and paste” from the National Archives with Roman numerals
added by me to indicate the various sections commented on earlier.
In Congress, July 4, 1776
I.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen
united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.
II.
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.
III.
--That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety
and Happiness.
IV.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed.
V.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute
Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government,
and to provide new Guards for their future security.
VI.
--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and
such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems
of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
VII.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should
be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable
to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the
sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing
with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to
cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of
Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the
State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from
without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States;
for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners;
refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the
conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his
Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither
swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without
the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and
superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent
to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any
Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by
Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended
offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its
Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for
introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws,
and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves
invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his
Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns,
and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign
Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already
begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the
most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high
Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their
friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all
ages, sexes and conditions.
VIII.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for
Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered
only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act
which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have
We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them
from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable
jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our
emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and
magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to
disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces
our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War,
in Peace Friends.
IX.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America,
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for
the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good
People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,
X.
That
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; and that as Free and Independent States,
they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish
Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of
right do.
XI.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on
the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
