Declaration of Independence
Introduction
The Declaration of Independence in America was based on three themes: political freedom, social tolerance, and economic opportunity. Political freedom influenced the ideas and ambitions of those who spearheaded and participated in the American Revolution; social tolerance along with economic opportunity served as bonuses in the Revolution. The Declaration of Independence was therefore a promise to the colonists, nor an excuse for waging rebellion against the English. It was both a taking of chances and a challenge with the colonists and the rest of the world to test the morality of the colonists as well as to push incite them to fight for their own independence. At the heart of the Declaration is the belief of equality of all men, meaning equality of opportunity in political, social, and economic.
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is the principal document adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, declaring the unanimous decision by the thirteen colonies to absolve themselves from all existing allegiance to the British Crown as well dissolution of all political connection between the State of Great Britain and them (Mahoney 1986, 47). The official declaration of independence resulted in formation of new nation – the United States of America. The political, economic, social circumstances of the writing of Declaration help understand the significance of the document at the time and for the rest of America’s history .
The Declaration of Independence was fueled by economic concerns that the majority of Americans had. Economic concerns contributed substantially to the falling out of the British colonies and the mother country. Recent wars had left the British government in bad debt, leading to the parliament to enact a series of stringent measures meant to increase revenue from their colonies (United States et al 2002, 12). Such British legislation that inspired the Declaration included the Stamp Act of 1975, which imposed tax in almost all paper goods such as books, newspapers, pamphlets, playing cards as well as on all registered legal documents. The Townshend Acts of 1767, which taxed all imported lass, tea, paper, lead and painters; suspended the New York legislature; and established a custom board of commissioners to collect taxes as well as supervise trade (Grafton 2000, 86). The Intolerable Act of 1774 established punitive laws stripping Massachussetts of self government along with its historic rights mainly to suppress the colonial resistance to British parliamentary authority that had been gaining momentum since Stamp Act of 1975.
The British Parliament regarded the harsh legislations as legitimate means of getting the colonies to contribute their fair share of maintaining the British empire. However, these laws led to emergence of both nonviolent and violent protests from the colonies such as the Boston Massacre followed by the Boston Tea Party. This led to the subsequent repeal of the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. During the maiden Continental Congress in September 1774, King George III was requested to address the grievances of the colonists (Mahoney 1986, 58). Nonetheless, the King f refused to peacefully resolve their differences. Through the Declaratory Act of 1776, the British Parliament still held its position of having the right to enact legislation for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”
On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson to draft a Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was given the mandate to pen the actual document given his unmatched literary skills. Jefferson drew his political and literary influences from the French and English Enlightments as well as from philosopher John Locke (Grafton 2000, 92). The committee effected up to 86 amendments to Jefferson’s rough draft, including the condemnation of slavery. The removal of the condemnation of King George’s support of slavery from the document was considered necessary so as to it could gain support from all colonies including the pro-slavery colonies.
Indeed, the Declaration of Independence had significant ramifications for both the colonial masters and the American colonies. It had lasting impact on the political landscapes of not only America but also Europe. Political freedom on the part of the colonies translated into breaking away from the British Crown and developing their own sense of identity as well as a sense of self-government. The Declaration of Independence had major influence on subsequent equally fundamental documents such as America’s Bill of Rights, the Constitution of the United States, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), the Manifesto of the Province of Flanders (1790), as well as the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence (1811) and Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence (1945).
The Declaration explores the right of revolution by the people. Politically, the most crucial right is one of self-government. The whole Declaration elaborated the mechanism of this right both in theory and practice. The Declaration determines military power as unfair through the accusations against the King: “He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power” (United States et al 2002, 74).It was the belief of the colonists that Great Britain did not handled properly the power of the military. It is held that violation of government by consent warrants the action by people to “alter” or “abolish” an existing government and in its place install a new government that fulfill “their safety and happiness” (Grafton 2000, 105) In this regard, the Declaration established a whole new theory of government that demands of the government itself to safeguard the “natural rights” of its people.
Much political interest in the Declaration of Independence in the United States was revived during formation of America’s first political parties in the 1790s. An increasingly high number of Americans got to know about the author of the Declaration as Jeffersonian Republicans capitalized on by promoting both the significance of the document and Jefferson as its main author (Mahoney 1986, 51). The rival Federalists challenged this by expressing their reservations on Jefferson’s originality and authorship with the argument that the declaration was by the entire Congress. With time, the act of declaring independence became synonymous with the document, affording the Jefferson political cloud for a long time. Less partisan appreciation for the document grew in the years after the War of 1812 with the growth of American nationalism together with renewed interest in United States’ history of the Revolution (United States et al 2002, 35). The second paragraph of the Declaration became most important in the wake of the war. This was especially the case because both the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States lacked sweeping statements relating to rights and equality, forcing advocates of marginalized groups to draw support from the Declaration.
The political rhetoric around the issue of slavery in the United States persisted as the Declaration grew in stature. The first significant public debate on slavery and the Declaration happened between 1819 and 1821 during the Missouri controversy. Congressmen against slavery observe that the very language of the Declaration showed that the Founding Fathers of the United States were against slavery in principle, and thus no new slavery states needed to be added to the country. On the other hand, proslavery congressmen held that the Declaration had no relevance to the subject given that it was not a part of the Constitution of the United States.
The Declaration of Independence highlighted a number of economic problems that needed urgent attention. As evidenced with the statements like “for imposing taxes on us without our consent,” “for cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world,” the colonists were expressing their frustrations with the fact that England had awarded itself the right to inflict harsh taxes on the colonists without the consent of the latter (Wilkerson 2008, 33). They colonists were also protesting against King George’s action to completely wipe out trade of the colonies. The economic argument was to the effect that people had the legal right to trade and thus “taxation without representation” was not to be allowed. There were substantial economic implications in the United States following the Declaration of Independence. Americans no longer had to avoid taxes like was the case during The Stamp Act period as well as The Sugar Act (Time 1976, 40). The Declaration resulted in political freedom that led to economic freedom for the Americans by creating meaningful economic and trade opportunities. The economy of the United States was able to thrive with little complaints from the taxpayers. This is not to say that things would be easy for the American people following its gaining of independence. The beginning of nationhood would also translate in uncertainty about the survival of America as pertains to the economic sector (Time 1976, 40). Much uncertainty would relate to the smooth running of the new nation in light of reduced and lack of established manufacturing industries together with the inherited large national debt of 15 million dollars, and apparent shortages of such products as wool. There was also potential slow down of American land transportation, considerable insufficiency in the nation’s financial institutions in comparison to the European banking industry. On receiving its independence, the United would have a mere 1.3 million worth of exports (Wilkerson 2008, 50).
The Declaration of Independence proclaimed the American colonies not only as a political entity but also as a definite sociality, with the right and freedom to exist among other socialites. The American sociality had earned a rightful legitimate standing in the larger ecology of many other nations-comparable socialities. It was a viable social reality qualified to fit in the contemporary political and economic environment. It was a sociality founded on absolute truths that demonstrated how citizen members need to be related and indeed respected. However, it must be admitted that the language of the Declaration in regards to the social relationships among the several states and with the Union is somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, it is expressed the Declaration was “the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America” which comprise “one people” (Grafton 2000, 143) However, on the other hand, the Declaration proclaims that these “of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.” This latter statement tends to compromise the impact on the social fabric on the United States of America because while they associated in some sort to call themselves united and one, each state retains its autonomy and independence “to do all Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.” (Wilkerson 2008, 53) This social disengagement is evident in the fact that six years down the line, Americans still abbreviated the name of the US socially by writing: The united States, with “united” used adjectively in lower case. It appeared nearly as a casual throwaway description as opposed to a substantive part of the title of the new social reality. In addition, the linguistic habit of states which was consistent with the Declaration itself, suggested lack of clarity of the unionizing framework of the US sociality. As a matter of fact, the entire text of the Declaration does not make mention of unanimity as Pennsylvania and South Carolina cast their vote against independence. Historical evidence show that the Declaration of Independence was unanimously agreed to at a much later date i.e. July 19, 1776 after which Congress ordered it to be engrossed on a parchment under a new title (Wilkerson 2008, 59).
Another major social aspect of the Declaration of Independence was its apparent lack of gender sensitivity, both in its wording and in its official endorsement. The document lacked women representative not only in its drafting but also in its signing. This brought to light the unfortunate social order of the day where women only gave their opinion or consent through their husbands or other male figures. Women lacked social, political, economic, and moral independence and this was escalated by the nature of the Declaration of Independence (Wilkerson 2008, 66). In the same light, it is suspicious of the intention of the drafters to use the term “men” which by inference excludes the women citizens.
However, the Declaration of Independence greatly espoused the values of social change that are still relevant in modern-day society. Examples of such social change in present-day is to be seen in environmental changes, numerous youth programs affording students a voice along with a sense of empowerment, and the woman’s right to choose. It was the hope of the drafters of the Declaration that the whole idea of freedom would increasingly become relevant throughout the United States in the generations that would follow (United States et al 2002, 83). The current generations is living up to this dream by promoting social justice through such modern-day traditions as World Environment Day. These sorts of social change build on the values and beliefs founded in the Declaration of Independence. According to the quote “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 injuries,” (Wilkerson 2008, 45) speaking against something that causing destruction to the world is often ignored but to make the populous comprehend the issue equals taking action and doing the right regardless of the consequences. Such is the social that was envisioned by the Founding Fathers of the United States when writing the Declaration of Independence.
The need for respect and accommodation of others is a significant social aspect expressed in the introductory paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. The famous lines goes: “When in the course of human events…and 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 separate” (Grafton 2000, 76) From a social point of view, this statement underscores the significance of being respectful to our fellow humans and by extension, animals. All mankind and animals are part of God’s entitlement to nature. We stand to benefit a great deal from striving to acknowledge and respect all people and in so doing create peace and harmony with our neighbors and the people of the world.
The greatest emerging question from the Declaration of Independence is “who are the people” that the document is in reference. The Declaration is vague as to what constitutes “the people.” Having this aspect unresolved leaves a person reading the Declaration unable to talking meaningfully about the acclaimed unalienable rights of man, their right to overthrow a tyrannical government, just powers of the government, or consent of the subjects (Wilkerson 2008, 70). Lack of clear identification of “the people” also casts doubt to the series of accusations and grievances directed at the King. The answer to this could be found if the single reference to “the natural rights of man” in the second paragraph is assumed for a moment. It is only then that it becomes apparent the all references to “the people” or the collective are indeed in collective terms.
However, it is clear that the Declaration does not make explicit references to a majority people or a minority people; the language in the last paragraph of the document declares that the unanimous decision for independence is taken “in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies” (Wilkerson 2008, 154). This is not done in the authority of the Congress, which suggests the Continental Congress’ unwillingness to acknowledge the claims of all people, especially the lesser minority of the people. This alienated the minority because only the majority held the right of dissolving and deciding a new government as the minority was bound to submit to the decisions those that are many. This puts into question the integrity and sincerity of the expression that “all men are created equal” in the Declaration. It therefore raises the likelihood that “the people” referred to in the Declaration of Independence are “a majority” (Mahoney 1986, 48).
Conclusion
The Declaration of Independence is an important historical document for the United States of America and the rest of the world. The document addresses and raises a lot of political, social, and economic issues pertaining to the American people at the time and subsequent generations. The introductory paragraph is particularly heavy on political aspects by touching of fundamental values of would-be new American government, in addition to appealing to other nations to embrace the new nation. The introductory borrows a lot of the political and philosophical ideas characteristic of the Enlightenment period of the Eighteenth century Europe. It is evident that the all famous introductory paragraph of the Declaration served as both a source of American values and laws on the one hand, and a real trigger for debate relating to equality – both between people of all color, and between men and women.
Bibliography:
Grafton, John. 2000. The declaration of independence and other great documents of American history: 1775-1865. New York: Dover Publications.
United States, Thomas Jefferson, and Sam Fink. 2002. The Declaration of Independence. New York: Scholastic Reference.
Time. 1976. “Can America Afford Independence?.” Time 105, no. 20 (July 4, 1976): 40.
Times. 1976, “INDEPENDENCE: The Birth of a New America.” Time 105, no. 20 (July 4, 1976): 7.
Wilkerson, James. 2008. “Declaration of Independence, A Commentary – Analysis of Race, Economics and Politics, Circa 1776 – A Conflicted Document.” Conference Papers — Association For The Study Of African American Life & History 203.
Mahoney, Dennis J. 1986. “Declaration of Independence.” Society 24, no. 1 (November 1986): 46-48.
