Declaration of Independence - Essay Example

Declaration of Independence Introduction On Independence Day every year, millions of Americans turn out for myriad parades, public and backyard barbecues, concerts of patriotically stirring music and spectacular pyrotechnic displays, and they do so to celebrate the day on which we declared our independence from Great Britain. But America did not declare its independence on July 4, 1776. That happened two days earlier, when the Second Continental Congress approved a resolution stating "these United Colonies are, and of a right should be, free and independent States." The resolution itself had first been introduced back on June 7, when Virginia's Richard Henry Lee rose in the sweltering heat of the Congress' Philadelphia meetinghouse to propose an action many delegates had been anticipating--and not a few dreading--since the opening shots of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord. Lee asked for a newly declared independent government, one that could form alliances and draw up a plan for confederation of the separate Colonies. The need for some such move had become increasingly clear during the last year, especially to George Washington, if for no other reason than as a rallying cry for his troops. The Virginia soldier chosen by Congress to general its Continental Army languished in New York, short of supplies, short of men and short of morale while facing the threat of a massive British offensive (House 2007). Discussion Congress immediately turned to consider Jefferson's document. It would have to serve as a sort of early version of a press release--an explanation that could be disseminated at home and around the globe by broadside and to be read aloud at gatherings. Its statements had to inspire the troops and garner public support for the action Congress had just taken. Not surprisingly, Congress paid close attention to the document's language. The delegates took the time to spruce it up a little and edit out what they found objectionable. In general the Congress was fine with the vague sentiments of the early paragraphs that have since become the cornerstone of American democracy. What the delegates were more interested in, however, and what they saw as the meat of the document, were the more concrete declarations. For years, they had based their resistance to England on the belief they were not fighting a divinely chosen king, but his ministers and parliament. But during the previous 14 months the Crown had waged war on them, and King George had declared the Colonials in rebellion, that is, outside his protection. Common Sense had gotten them used to thinking of the king as that "royal brute" and this document were supposed to explain why he should be so considered. Thus Jefferson had produced a catalog of George III's tyrannies as its heart and soul (Hole 2001). Congress at length struck out some sentimental language in which Jefferson tried to paint the British people as brothers unconcerned to American suffering and a paragraph where he ran on about the glories the two people might otherwise have realized together. But more substantive changes were especially telling. Among George’s crimes, Jefferson had listed the slave trade, contending that the king had “waged a cruel war against human nature” by assaulting a “distant people” and moving them into slavery in “another hemisphere.” This was too much for Jefferson’s fellow slaveholders in the South, especially South Carolina, and certain Yankee traders who had made fortunes from what Jefferson called the “execrable commerce.” Together, representatives of these Southern and Yankee interests deleted the section. In any case, after more than two days of sometimes-heated debate, on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the revised document that explained its declaration of independence of July 2. The approval was not immediately unanimous, since the New York delegates had to await instructions from home and did not assent until July 9. At the time of approval, Congress ordered the document “authenticated and printed,” and that copies “be sent to several assemblies, conferences and committees, or councils of safety, and to the some commanding officers of the continental troops; that it be state publicly in each of the United States, and at the head of the army.” If any delegates officially signed the approved document on the glorious Fourth, they were President John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thomson. In the Declaration of Independence, it is written in the name of the American people: “We consent this reality to be self-evident, that every men in this earth are created equal, that they are bestowed by their Creator with definite unalienable Rights that along with these Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness— That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, obtaining 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 modify or to destroy it, and to institute new government, laying its base on such Principles, and systematizing its powers in such Form, as to them give the impression most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly to a scholar, that mankind are ready to suffer, whereas evils are tolerable, than to right themselves by eliminating the forms to which they are habituated. However when a lengthy train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing over and over the alike purpose, evinces a design to lessen them under unconditional despotism, it is their right; it is their responsibility, to shrug off such government, and to make available new protectors for their future security. It has been the permanent sufferance of these colonies and such is now the obligation, which impede them to modify their former systems of government. Having wrecked with an old government on the grounds that it had broken its natural covenant with its people, Americans were, not surprisingly, interested in obtaining written assurances that any new government set up for them would be legally obliged to respect individual rights and liberties. As creation for the thirteen freshly independent American states were drafted, bills of rights enumerating specific rights were directly incorporated therein, even, as for Virginia, making up its first part. So, American bills of rights may be seen, not only as evidence of the natural law philosophy of the eighteenth century, but as written responses to the specific wrongdoing committed by George Ill that were cataloged in the Declaration of Independence (Janis & Mark W 1992). Conclusion The American Declaration of Independence was not issued until 15 months after the War of Independence had begun. In it, after 1,200 words of self-justification, at the very end of the document the colonists finally declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are cleaned from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political liaison between them and the state of Great Britain is, and should be, totally peace, contract alliances, establish business, and to execute all further act and things which self-governing states may of right do liquefy; and that as free and independent states, they have full authority to charge war, conclude. But why did it take them so long? Well, mainly because they wanted to carry a majority of opinion in each of the 13 states with them. The colonies were not united until after the war was over and, if the radical leaders of colonial opinion had moved too fast, it could have been that some states would have declared independence while others did not. Many colonists had no desire to break away from Britain. They just wanted to use the war to establish a better negotiating position for the eventual settlement with Britain of their future role in the Empire. For over a year, Thomas Jefferson and the other radical separatist leaders in America delayed and argued their case as the war developed. It was only by June 1776 that it was clear that Independence would win a majority in all of the 13 colonies and on 10 June a committee was set up under Jefferson to draft the Declaration. Finally it was safe to take the big leap and on 4 July the Declaration was approved and issued (Wood 1969). Reference House, Karen Elliott. (2007). A Declaration of Independence. Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition. Janis, Mark W. (1992). "The Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and the Bill of Rights." Human Rights Quarterly 14.n4, 478-484 Wood, Gordon S. (1969). The Creation of the American Republic. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press. 1776-1787. Hole, Robert. (2001). The American Declaration of Independence of 4 July 1776. History Review; Issue 39, p38, 3p, 1c Read More