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Independence
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Introduction
In January 1776 a pamphlet entitled Common Sense written
by Thomas Paine asserted the idea that rule by monarchies was unnatural and that
men should be ruled by laws created by the people.
By June of that same year the Continental Congress decided to
appoint a 5 person committee to the task of drafting a Declaration of
Independence for the colonies. Members of the committee were John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston.
The primary author of the document was Thomas Jefferson.
 The
Declaration of Independence is a document in which the 13
colonies declared themselves independent of the
Kingdom of Great
Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. It was ratified by the
Continental Congress on July 4, 1776; which is why this date is celebrated as
Independence Day currently in the United States. The original copy is still on
display to the public in the National Archives in Washington, DC.
Independence was adopted on July 2, 1776
pursuant to the "Lee Resolution" presented to the Continental Congress by
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, which read: "Resolved: 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."
A committee consisting of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of
Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York,
and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, was formed to draft a suitable declaration to
frame this resolution. Jefferson did most of the writing, with input from the
committee. The Declaration was then rewritten somewhat in general session prior
to its adoption by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Jefferson's draft
included a denunciation of the slave trade, which was edited out.
The Declaration
A final copy of the Declaration was produced by Timothy Matlack, assistant to
the secretary of Congress, on August 2, 1776, at which time most of the
delegates signed it (several signed later). Word of the declaration reached
London on August 10.
Several myths surround the document: because it is dated July 4, 1776, many
people falsely believe it was signed on that date. John Hancock's name is larger
than that of the other signatories, and an unfounded legend states that it is
large so that King George III would be able to read it without his spectacles. A
painting by John Trumbull, depicting the signing of the Declaration with all
representatives present, hangs in the grand Rotunda of the Capitol of the United
States: no such ceremony ever took place. There is no evidence that Benjamin
Franklin ever made the statement often attributed to him: "We must all hang
together, or most assuredly we shall hang separately". The Liberty Bell was not
rung to celebrate independence, and it certainly did not acquire its crack on so
doing: that story comes from a children's book of fiction, Legends of the
American Revolution, by George Lippard. The Liberty Bell was actually named in
the early nineteenth century when it became a symbol of the anti-slavery
movement.
A fictionalized (but somewhat historically accurate) version of how the
Declaration came about is the musical play (and 1972 movie) 1776, which is
usually termed a "musical comedy" but deals frankly with the political issues,
especially how disagreement over the institution of slavery almost defeated the
Declaration's adoption.
The Declaration was also a propaganda tool, in which the Americans tried to
establish clear reasons for their rebellion that might persuade reluctant
colonists to join them and establish their just cause to foreign governments
that might lend them aid. The Declaration also served to unite the members of
the Continental Congress. Most were aware that they were signing what would be
their death warrant in case the Revolution failed, and the Declaration served to
make anything short of victory in the Revolution unthinkable.
The Declaration appeals strongly to the concept of natural law and
self-determination. The Declaration is heavily influenced by the Act of
Abjuration of the Dutch Republic, by the Discourses on Government of the
Republican martyr Algernon Sydney, to whose legacy Jefferson and Adams were
equally devoted; ideas and even some of the phrasing was taken directly from the
writings of John Locke, particularly his second treatise on government, titled
"Essay Concerning the true original, extent, and end of Civil Government."
The Declaration of Independence contains many of the founding fathers'
fundamental principles, some of which were later codified in the United States
Constitution. It has also been used as the model of a number of later documents
such as the declarations of independence of Vietnam and Rhodesia.
Inalienable / Unalienable
"Inalienable", etymologically, comes from the French word inalienable, and is
more usually used in legal documents than "unalienable."
The idea of inalienable rights, in almost the exact phrasing used in the
Declaration of Independence, came from the political philosopher John Locke. The
Declaration of Independence was to a large degree inspired by his work "The
Second Treatise of Government". In this treatise, Locke developed the important
idea of government by consent. Locke wrote that human beings had certain
inalienable rights.
Thomas Jefferson originally wrote "inalienable". When subsequent printed and
hand-copied reproductions were made, John Adams, fellow Declaration Committee
member (and later second President of the United States), arbitrarily had the
word changed to "unalienable"; which he believed more correct. The original
signed version of the final draft (i.e. the master document) of the Declaration
of Independence (not the one in the National Archives) says "inalienable". The
inscription on the Jefferson Memorial reads "inalienable".
Text of the Declaration
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
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.
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, 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. 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. 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.--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. 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
complete 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 endeavored 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.
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.
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, 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. 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.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the
positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
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