AMERICAN REVOLUTION
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1. Introduction
The clamor for equal rights among all people in America intensified in the late 18th century when the working class men stepped up their advocacy. Then, working class (also referred to as the laboring class) was used to describe people employed in lower tier jobs on the basis of education, skill, and lower incomes. The group also involved the unemployment or those earning below-average incomes. The late 1820s marked the rebirth of the unfinished American revolution aiming to make sense of the assertion that “All Men Are Created Equal”, and deserve to treated as such. This papers evaluates the meaning and significance of the document “The Working Man’s Declaration of Independence,” authored by George Henry Evans in December 1829. The document uses similar phrases of the original Declaration to call for freedom for the “common man.” It incorporates discussions on laws whose purpose should be to safeguard the freedoms of all American people. The overriding argument of the document is that laws (including religious laws) are used by those in power to undermine the rights of others (Evans 1829, 85).
2. Summary
In George Henry Evans’ The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence, the original Declaration of Independence is paraphrased in part to underscore the claim that working class has inalienable rights like any other class of society. The self evident truths that the author is in reference to in his document include levying of taxes basing on erroneous principles; jury and military duty that was unjustly made a preserve of low class workers; exploitative laws that favored corporations; as well as exploitative laws on credit. In light of this, many abuses that have continually been perpetrated against the working-class men, Evans argues that it is high time that all constitutional means was used to bring about meaningful reform in the government and safeguard the workers’ right to equal economic opportunity. This came at a time when the Democrats were excluding most working-class members in addition to openly violating their rights as opposed to protecting these rights. In this regard, Evans is propagating for universal spread of liberty and government representing all men, as opposed to only the upper class. The author underscores the significance of establishing democracy by insisting of the ‘necessity of the organization of the party’ to avert the upper class from their intention to subvert the “indefeasible and fundamental privilege of people’s liberty. In conclusion, the author argues that every common citizen has the right to use all constitutional means available to “reform the abuses” as well as “provide new guards for future security” (Howard 2003, 211). The author therefore documents the typical attitude of the majority of people in country during the period of 1820’s and 1830s, representing the broader welfare of society.
Generally, the document proponents the ideals of the New York Working Men’s Party which include: abolition of imprisonment for debt, establishment of a government-funded or public education system, abolition of state-chartered monopolies granting corporations, banks, and insurance companies exclusive legal privileges.
3. Rhetorical strategies and purpose
Evan’s The Working Man’s Declaration of Independence document has a number of rhetorical phrases. In the introductory section, Evans does well to establish the philosophical grounds for his entire argument to the effect that “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; that to secure these rights” (Evans 1829, 84). The words are drawn from the original Declaration of Independence, which remain among the most influential words in the history of mankind to have ever been put on paper. There have been numerous subsequent supplications for liberty and equality basing on the Declaration as a model. While the original Declaration was a reaction to the British Crown, subsequent declarations (including Evan’s The Working Men’s Declaration) have challenged capitalism, white supremacy, white supremacy, as well as patriarchy. To this effect, Evan is rhetorical with the line “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one class of a community to assert their natural and unalienable rights in opposition to other classes of their fellow men” in the introductory paragraph (Barry 2007, 136).
Also, the author borrows the words “and to assume among” them a political “station of equality to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God,” as well as the principles of their political compact “entitle them; a decent respect to the opinions of mankind,” from the original Declaration (Barry 2007, 137). This sentence is a part of the single, lengthy, periodic sentence of original Declaration’s first paragraph used in this context to make the case for oppressed people. The author uses this phrase to the cry of the oppressed has strong moral legitimacy.
The author then strives to establish the correlation between the citizenry and their government. He expresses that people constitute governments in order to safeguard their rights, translating that governments get their authority and power from the people. Similarly, the people still retain their democratic power to replace the government in instances where their rights are not being protected. The author states “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations” take place, all invariably tending to the oppression and degradation of one class of society, and to the unnatural and iniquitous exaltation of another by political leaders, “it is their right it is their due ‘ to use every constitutional means to reform the abuses of such a government and to provide new guards for their future security” (Evans 1829, 91).
Generally, the rhetorical structure of Evans’ The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence is to a larger extent similar to that of the original Declaration by Thomas Jefferson. The author chooses and places each word to attain maximum impact. Each clause adds value to the overall progression of the main thought. There is careful internal construction of each sentence and with clear correlation to the both the preceding and following thought. Complex ideas are characteristically compressed into brief, concise statements, reflecting the Enlightenment prose style of eighteenth century.
George Henry Evans published The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence in the leading labor paper at the time, the Working Man’s Advocate. The paper helped keep several relevant social issues alive as well as maintaining solidarity among the working class men.
The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence espoused the position of the New York City Working Men’s Party (WMP), to whom George Evans was founding member. The membership of the WMP ranged from wage-earning carpenters, printers, weavers, to other skilled artisans (Howard 2003, 211). The party was of the opinion that the working class of New York City had been gravely betrayed by the self-seeking politicians in government. Therefore the Working Man’s Party used the revolutionary language of Richard Henry Lee to protest rampant labor injustices that included excessive working hours, child labor, nonpayment of wages, opposition to unionization, as well as imprisonment for debt. In addition, workers were concerned with charges for (or lack of) children’s education, the escape of the wealthy from the military service, together with government-funded monopolies protecting businessmen.
4. The Document’s place in its larger socio-historical context
At the time The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence was published, there were a significant number of people in the working class who were feeling oppression. The laboring groups felt that laws were being used to unjustly sacrifice their liberties at the benefit of the liberties of the wealthy. Disparate lower class workers therefore turned to the original Declaration of Independence as a foundation of their rights, adopting the term “equal rights” to add justification to their various demands. The term “Equal rights” was evoked to mean different things to different individuals. Conservative labor leaders and workers used the term when making moderate demands for greater economic opportunity, educational access, as well as increased political rights. On the other hand, more radical labor leaders and working class men used the term “equal rights” as an implicit critique of the capitalism system of America as being dependent of the economy and the problems of wage slavery. In general, however, the calls for “equal rights” at the time associated the struggles of ordinary working people to the nation’s revolutionary traditions. The campaign served to draw the attention of the American people to the inordinate inequalities denting the ideals of the American Revolution (Howard 2003, 219).
The working class included both black and white who desired to be afforded the same rights, freedoms, together with chances at life, liberty, as well as the pursuit of happiness that the upper class enjoyed. The laws such as the lien law served as a significant burden that disproportionately affected the working man. Employers exercised absolute power on their employees in conjunction with the inhumane working conditions and poor pay hindered working class men from realizing their dreams. The oppressed had to drop their long held faith and trust in their political leaders to uphold laws that would enable the working men to have liberty and pursue happiness. The writing of The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence at the time was a testament that labor had ceased to the metaphor for both national strength and consensus.
Evan’s assertions are later supported by Fredrick Douglass (An American social reformer and abolitionist) in his writings. Douglass writes “The real question, the all-commanding question, is whether American justice, American liberty, American civilization, American law, and American Christianity can be made to include and protect, alike and forever, all American citizens.” He further states that “The American people have this lesson to learn, that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property would be safe” (Evans 1829, 89)
Conclusion
The document The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence by George Henry Evans addresses pertinent questions relating to the situation of the working class in America at the time. The author questions the rationale for elevating one class of people above others while the laws of land as expressed by the original declaration grant every citizen equal rights. The overall argument of the document is to the effect of having respect and equity of all mean as opposed to favoring the upper at the expense of the laboring class. Absolute necessity of the organization of the party is needed to prevent subversion of the indefeasible and fundamental privilege of the lower class citizens by their upper class counterparts.
Bibliography
Frederick, Douglass, and Philip Foner, The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass: Pre-civil war decade 1850-1860 volume II (New York: International Publishers, 1950), 434-572.
Evans George H. The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence. New York: Working Man’s Advocate, 1829, 85-94.
Barry, Shain, The Nature of Rights at the American Founding and Beyond (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007), pp.136-138.
Howard, Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), 211-233.
