Declaration Of Independence - Essay Example

What led Jefferson to prepare this document anyway? What did the document declare? This essay sets out to answer these two questions and to show that the Declaration of Independence was because of pressing international issues in 1776. This will be achieved by investigating the many imitations and documents that have spawned since 1790 and offering comparisons of how it was received in the past and at present in and beyond the U.S. This would eventually lead us to draw inferences regarding reflections on the afterlife of The Declaration of Independence and probe the modern conception of rights, both collective and individual.

Discussion First, it would be beneficial to understand the just what the declaration declared before we can be able to show its international context. Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence announced the emergence of the U.S into the international scene. For starters, before the Declaration of Independence, the term “United States of America,” had not publicly been used anywhere. This is expressed explicitly in the opening paragraph of the document, which states that the states representatives were bringing forth the thoughts of mankind, the reasons why united people had made a choice to assume the equal and separate station among the powers of the earth to which God and Law of Nature entitle them.

The phrase, “powers of the earth,” can be seen to signify other sovereign states, which can be considered as the Declaration addressing an immediate international audience. I was the intention of the U.S to join the other sovereign states I the world on an equal level as an “Independent and Free State,” with full powers to conclude peace, establish commerce, contract alliances, levy war, and to carry out all other things and acts which independent states had the right of doing (The Declaration of Independence as Adopted by Congress).

That intention by the U.S announced tit option to join the international community of Free and Independent states instead of the British Empire. Therefore, we can assert that the Declaration of Independence was actually a declaration of interdependence. The primary intentions of the Declaration of Independence were to legitimize the civil within the British Empire and make it a lawful war between states. By declaring American colonists as outside of hi protection, George III had turned them into rebels.

Therefore, there was a need for the rebels to transform themselves from rebels to legitimate colonists. International recognition for this cause and foreign support was thus imperative. This motivation for internationalization was made clear by Paine in 1776 via his argument that custom of nations required that America had to make a declaration of Independence before any European power would attempt to mediate peace between Great Britain and Americans. Obviously, Spain or France could not help any persons they considered as rebels against another monarch.

In addition, for Americans to be considered as reliable trading partners, they grievances needed to be put before foreign courts in a persuasive manner. According to Paine, this would be impossible without the Declaration of Independence, which would ensure that the U.S took rank with other nations (Paine). According to the records of the Continental Congress, there was a strong link between the demands of International Relations and the Declaration of Independence. A resolution was tabled in Congress by Richard Lee in 1776 declaring colonies independent and at the same time, urged Congress to put in place measures that would affect the formation of foreign Alliances.

This resolution was consequently adopted by Congress announcing the