MCT COLLEGE OF LEGAL STUDIES

MANAGED BY MUSLIM CULTURAL TRUST – MALAPPURAM

ASSIGNMENT REPORT ON
United States Declaration of Independence (1776)
And
Declaration of the Rights of man and of the Citizen (1789)

In partial fulfillment of the internal assignment work on Human Rights

In 3rd Semester of LL.B

By
SAYYID SADIQUEALI THANGAL
3rd Semester LL.B
Entrollment No :LSAPLBU006

Under the Supervision of

Asst Prof.M.GIREESH
Lecturer Department of Law
M.C.T College of Legal Studies
Affiliated to the University of Calicut
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is the record of work bone by Mr. Sayyid Sadiqueali Thangal In partial fulfillment of the
internal assignment work on Human Rights In 3rd Semester of LL.B The record was
submitted on 17-07-2017

Sign by :
Asst Prof.M.Gireesh
Head of Department of Law
M.C.T College of Legal Studies
Affiliated to the University of Calicut
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Introduction
Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain
standards of human behavior, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal
and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental
rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human
being," and which are "inherent in all human beings" regardless of their nation,
location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. They are applicable
everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and they are egalitarian
in the sense of being the same for everyone. They are regarded as requiring empathy
and the rule of law and imposing an obligation on persons to respect the human
rights of others, and it is generally considered that they should not be taken away
except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances; for example,
human rights may include freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture and
execution.

The doctrine of human rights has been highly influential within international law,
global and regional institutions. Actions by states and non-governmental
organizations form a basis of public policy worldwide. The idea of human rights
suggests that "if the public discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have
a common moral language, it is that of human rights." The strong claims made by the
doctrine of human rights continue to provoke considerable skepticism and debates
about the content, nature and justifications of human rights to this day. The precise
meaning of the term right is controversial and is the subject of continued
philosophical debate; while there is consensus that human rights encompasses a
wide variety of rights such as the right to a fair trial, protection against enslavement,
prohibition of genocide, free speech, or a right to education, there is disagreement
about which of these particular rights should be included within the general
framework of human rights.
 History of the concept

Although ideas of rights and liberty have existed in some form for much of human
history, there is agreement that the earlier conceptions do not closely resemble the
modern conceptions of human rights. According to Jack Donnelly, in the ancient world,
"traditional societies typically have had elaborate systems of duties... conceptions of
justice, political legitimacy, and human flourishing that sought to realize human
dignity, flourishing, or well-being entirely independent of human rights. These
institutions and practices are alternative to, rather than different formulations of,

human rights"1. The history of human rights can be traced to past documents,

particularly Constitution of Medina (622), Al-Risalah al-Huquq (659-713), Magna Carta

(1215), the Twelve Articles of Memmingen (1525), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), and the Bill of Rights
in the United States Constitution (1791)2

The modern sense of human rights can be traced to Renaissance Europe and the
Protestant Reformation, alongside the disappearance of the feudal authoritarianism
and religious conservatives that dominated the middle Ages. One theory is that human
rights were developed during the early Modern period, alongside the European
secularization of Judeo-Christian ethics3. The most commonly held view is that the
concept of human rights evolved in the West, and that while earlier cultures had
important ethical concepts, they generally lacked a concept of human rights. For
example, McIntyre argues there is no word for "right" in any language before
14004.Medieval charters of liberty such as the English Magna Carta were not charters
of human rights, rather they were the foundation5 and constituted a form of limited
political and legal agreement to address specific political circumstances,
1 James Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, December 13, 2013
2 tanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Human Rights, Retrieved August 14, 2014
3 Ishay 2008, p. 64
4 shay 2008, p. 64- 5 Danny Danziger & John Gillingham, "1215: The Year of Magna Carta"(2004 paperback edition)
in the case of Magna Carta later being recognized in the course of early modern
debates about rights6. One of the oldest records of human rights is the statute of Kalisz
(1264), giving privileges to the Jewish minority in the Kingdom of Poland such as
protection from discrimination and hate speech7. Samuel Moyn suggests that the
concept of human rights is intertwined with the modern sense of citizenship, which
did not emerge until the past few hundred years8.

16th–18th century

The earliest conceptualization of human rights is credited to ideas about natural

rights emanating from natural law. In particular, the issue of universal rights was
introduced by the examination of extending rights to indigenous peoples by Spanish
clerics, such as Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolome de Las Casas. In the Valladolid
debate, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, who maintained an Aristotelian view of humanity as
divided into classes of different worth, argued with Las Casas, who argued in favor of
equal rights to freedom from slavery for all humans regardless of race or religion.9

17th-century English philosopher John Locke discussed natural rights in his

work, identifying them as being "life, liberty, and estate (property)", and argued that
such fundamental rights could not be surrendered in the social contract. In Britain in
1689, the English Bill of Rights and the Scottish Claim of Right each made illegal a
range of oppressive governmental actions.10 Two major revolutions occurred during
the 18th century, in the United States (1776) and in France (1789), leading to the
United States Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizen respectively, both of which articulated certain human rights.
Additionally, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 encoded into law a number of
fundamental civil rights and civil freedoms

6 Hannum, Hurst (2006). "The concept of human rights"

7 Isaac Lewin, The Jewish community in Poland,
8 Samuel Moyn, August 30-edition of September 6, 2010
9 Problems of Law, Policy, And Practice. Aspen Publishers. pp. 31–33
10 British Library. Retrieved 27 November 2015. The key landmark is the Bill of Rights (1689)
“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”.
  - United States Declaration of Independence, 1776

These were followed by developments in philosophy of human rights by philosophers

such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill and G.W.F. Hegel during the 18th and 19th
centuries. The term human rights probably came into use some time between Paine's
The Rights of Man and William Lloyd Garrison's 1831 writings in The Liberator, in
which he stated that he was trying to enlist his readers in "the great cause of human
rights". Although the term had been used by at least one author as early as 1742.11

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental

Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia
on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies,12 then at war
with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly
independent sovereign states and no longer under British rule. Instead, they formed a
new nation: the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for
independence, which was passed on July 2 with no opposing vote cast. A committee of
five had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on
independence

John Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the
original draft of the document,13 which Congress would edit to produce the final
version. The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had
voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain,

11 Turnbull, George (1742). Observations Upon Liberal Education, In All Its Branches:
12 New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence
13 "Declaring Independence", Revolutionary War, Digital History, University of Houston
more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The next day,
Adams wrote to his wife Abigail: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most
memorable Epocha, in the History of America."12 But Independence Day is actually
celebrated on July 4, the date that the Declaration of Independence was approved.

After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in
several forms. It was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was
widely distributed and read to the public. The source copy used for this printing has
been lost, and may have been a copy in Thomas Jefferson's hand.13 Jefferson's original
draft, complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and
Jefferson's notes of changes made by Congress, are preserved at the Library of
Congress. The best-known version of the Declaration is a signed copy that is displayed
at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and which is popularly regarded as the
official document. This engrossed copy was ordered by Congress on July 19 and signed
primarily on August 2.14

The sources and interpretation of the Declaration have been the subject of much
scholarly inquiry. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by
listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and
legal rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in
announcing independence, references to the text of the Declaration were few in the
following years. Abraham Lincoln made it the centerpiece of his rhetoric (as in the
Gettysburg Address of 1863) and his policies. Since then, it has become a well-known
statement on human rights, particularly its second sentence:

12 Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776

13 Boyd (1976), The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original, p. 438
14The Declaration of Independence: A History, The U.S. National Archives and Records
Administration
“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”

This has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language"15
containing "the most potent and consequential words in American history"16 The
passage came to represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive.
This view was notably promoted by Abraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration
to be the foundation of his political philosophy and argued that it is a statement of
principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.17

The U.S. Declaration of Independence inspired many other similar documents in other
countries, the first being the 1789 Declaration of Flanders issued during the Brabant
Revolution in the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). It also served as the
primary model for numerous declarations of independence across Europe and Latin
America, as well as Africa (Liberia) and Oceania (New Zealand) during the first half of
the 19th century.18

15 Stephen E. Lucas, "Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical

Document"
16 Ellis, American Creation, 55–56
17 McPherson, Second American Revolution, 126
18 Armitage, David (2007). The Declaration of Independence
 Background

“Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a
union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before
I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I
speak the sentiments of America.”
— Thomas Jefferson, November 29, 177519
By the time that the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the
Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations
had been deteriorating between the colonies and the mother country since 1763.
Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase revenue from the colonies, such
as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767. Parliament believed that
these acts were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the
costs to keep them in the British Empire.20

Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the empire. The
colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, and colonists argued that
Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a larger
divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution
and the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies.21 The orthodox British view,
dating from the Glorious Revolution of 1688, was that Parliament was the supreme
authority throughout the empire, and so, by definition, anything that Parliament did
was constitutional.22 In the colonies, however, the idea had developed that the British
Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government could violate,
not even Parliament.23

19 Hazelton, Declaration History, 19

20 Christie and Labaree, Empire or Independence, 31
21 Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 162
22 Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 200–02
23 Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 180–82
After the Townshend Acts, some essayists even began to question whether Parliament
had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all.24 Anticipating the arrangement of
the British Commonwealth,25 by 1774 American writers such as Samuel Adams, James
Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson were arguing that Parliament was the legislature of
Great Britain only, and that the colonies, which had their own legislatures, were
connected to the rest of the empire only through their allegiance to the Crown.26

Congress convenes

The issue of Parliament's authority in the colonies became a crisis after Parliament
passed the Coercive Acts (known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies) in 1774 to
punish the Province of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Many
colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the British Constitution and thus a
threat to the liberties of all of British America. In September 1774, the First
Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to coordinate a response. Congress
organized a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king for repeal of the acts.
These measures were unsuccessful because King George and the ministry of Prime
Minister Lord North were determined not to retreat on the question of parliamentary
supremacy. As the king wrote to North in November 1774, "blows must decide
whether they are to be subject to this country or independent".27

Most colonists still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, even after fighting
began in the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The
Second Continental Congress convened at the Pennsylvania State House in
Philadelphia in May 1775, and some delegates hoped for eventual independence, but
no one yet advocated declaring it.28

24 Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 241

25 Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 224–25
26 Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 241–42. The writings in question include Wilson's Considerations
27 Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 168; Ferling, Leap in the Dark, 123–24.
28 Hazelton, Declaration History, 13; Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 318.
Many colonists no longer believed that Parliament had any sovereignty over them, yet
they still professed loyalty to King George, who they hoped would intercede on their
behalf. They were disappointed in late 1775, when the king rejected Congress's
second petition, issued a Proclamation of Rebellion, and announced before Parliament
on October 26 that he was considering "friendly offers of foreign assistance" to
suppress the rebellion.[23] A pro-American minority in Parliament warned that the
government was driving the colonists toward independence.[24]

The Development of Independence

The original thirteen British colonies of mainland North America moved toward
independence slowly and reluctantly. The colonists were proud of being British and
had no desire to be separated from a mother country with which they were united, as
John Dickinson put it in his popular newspaper "letters" from "a Farmer in
Pennsylvania" (1767–1768), "by religion, liberty, laws, affections, relation, language
and commerce." Not even the outbreak of war at Lexington and Concord,
Massachusetts on 19 April 1775 produced calls for independence. In July of that year,
the Second Continental Congress sent the King a petition for redress and
reconciliation, which Dickinson drafted in conspicuously respectful language.

The king did not formally answer to the petition. Instead, in a proclamation of August
23, 1775, he asserted that the colonists were engaged in an "open and avowed
rebellion." Then, on October 26, he told Parliament that the American rebellion was
"manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent Empire," and
that the colonists' professions of loyalty to him and the "parent State" were "meant
only to amuse." News of the speech arrived at Philadelphia in January 1776, just when
Thomas Paine's Common Sense appeared. American freedom would never be secure
under British rule, Paine argued, because the British government included two grave
"constitutional errors," monarchy and hereditary rule. Americans could secure their
future and that of their children only by declaring their independence and founding a
new government whose authority rested on the people alone, with no king or other
hereditary rulers. The pamphlet opened a widespread public debate on the previously
taboo subject of independence. News of Parliament's Prohibitory Act (December
1775), which declared colonial ships and cargoes forfeit to the Crown as if they were
the possessions of "open enemies," added force to Paine's argument, as did news that
the Crown had hired German mercenary soldiers to help subdue the Americans.

Home History United States and Canada U.S. History Declaration of Independence

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Dictionary of American History

American Eras

West's Encyclopedia of American Law

Dictionary of American History

West's Encyclopedia of American Law

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History

The Oxford Companion to British History

World Encyclopedia

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Declaration Of Independence

Dictionary of American History

COPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. This document, which the Second Continental

Congress adopted on 4 July 1776, proclaimed the original thirteen American colonies
independent of Great Britain and provided an explanation and justification of that
step. Although it was first drafted as a revolutionary manifesto, Americans of later
generations came to honor the Declaration less for its association with independence
than for its assertion that "all men are created equal" and "are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights," among which are "life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness," individual rights that went unmentioned in the federal Constitution and
Bill of Rights.

The Development of Independence

The original thirteen British colonies of mainland North America moved toward
independence slowly and reluctantly. The colonists were proud of being British and
had no desire to be separated from a mother country with which they were united, as
John Dickinson put it in his popular newspaper "letters" from "a Farmer in
Pennsylvania" (1767–1768), "by religion, liberty, laws, affections, relation, language
and commerce." Not even the outbreak of war at Lexington and Concord,
Massachusetts on 19 April 1775 produced calls for independence. In July of that year,
the Second Continental Congress sent the King a petition for redress and
reconciliation, which Dickinson drafted in conspicuously respectful language.

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The king did not formally answer to the petition. Instead, in a proclamation of August
23, 1775, he asserted that the colonists were engaged in an "open and avowed
rebellion." Then, on October 26, he told Parliament that the American rebellion was
"manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent Empire," and
that the colonists' professions of loyalty to him and the "parent State" were "meant
only to amuse." News of the speech arrived at Philadelphia in January 1776, just when
Thomas Paine's Common Sense appeared. American freedom would never be secure
under British rule, Paine argued, because the British government included two grave
"constitutional errors," monarchy and hereditary rule. Americans could secure their
future and that of their children only by declaring their independence and founding a
new government whose authority rested on the people alone, with no king or other
hereditary rulers. The pamphlet opened a widespread public debate on the previously
taboo subject of independence. News of Parliament's Prohibitory Act (December
1775), which declared colonial ships and cargoes forfeit to the Crown as if they were
the possessions of "open enemies," added force to Paine's argument, as did news that
the Crown had hired German mercenary soldiers to help subdue the Americans.

Finally, on 10 and 15 May 1776, Congress passed a resolution written by John Adams
with a radical preface that called for the total suppression of "every kind of authority
under the … crown" and the establishment of new state governments "under the
authority of the people." Simultaneously, on 15 May, Virginia instructed its
Congressional delegation to move that Congress declare independence, negotiate
foreign alliances, and design an American confederation. As a result, on 7 June 1776,
Richard Henry Lee introduced the following resolution: "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 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." Lee also moved that Congress "take the most effectual measures
for forming foreign Alliances" and prepare "a plan of confederation" for the colonies'
consideration.

Congress debated Lee's resolution on Saturday, 8 May, and again the following
Monday. According to notes kept by Thomas Jefferson, most delegates conceded that
independence was justified and inevitable, but some argued for delay. The colonies
should negotiate agreements with potential European allies before declaring
independence, they said. Moreover, the delegates of several colonies, including
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, were bound by
instructions that precluded their voting for independence. Since opinion in those
colonies was said to be "fast advancing," even a short delay might avoid a seriously
divided vote. The delegates therefore put off the decision until July, but on 11 June
appointed a committee to draft a declaration on independence. It had five members:
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of
Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Pennsylvania's Benjamin Franklin.

Drafting the Declaration

The drafting committee left no formal records of its proceedings, and the private
notes that Jefferson kept devote only a few sentences to the subject. The story
of the Declaration's creation must be pieced together from a handful of
documents of the time and from accounts by Jefferson and Adams, most of
which were written long after the event and sometimes contradict each other.
Before appointing a draftsman, it seems likely that the committee met, discussed
how the document should be organized, and perhaps wrote "minutes" or
instructions, as Adams said. Probably, as Jefferson claimed, he alone was asked
to write the document.

Home History United States and Canada U.S. History Declaration of

Independence

Select Source: Dictionary of American History

Dictionary of American History

American Eras

West's Encyclopedia of American Law

Dictionary of American History

West's Encyclopedia of American Law

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History

The Oxford Companion to British History

World Encyclopedia

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Declaration Of Independence

Dictionary of American History

COPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. This document, which the Second Continental

Congress adopted on 4 July 1776, proclaimed the original thirteen American
colonies independent of Great Britain and provided an explanation and
justification of that step. Although it was first drafted as a revolutionary
manifesto, Americans of later generations came to honor the Declaration less for
its association with independence than for its assertion that "all men are created
equal" and "are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights," among
which are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," individual rights that went
unmentioned in the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The Development of Independence

The original thirteen British colonies of mainland North America moved toward
independence slowly and reluctantly. The colonists were proud of being British
and had no desire to be separated from a mother country with which they were
united, as John Dickinson put it in his popular newspaper "letters" from "a
Farmer in Pennsylvania" (1767–1768), "by religion, liberty, laws, affections,
relation, language and commerce." Not even the outbreak of war at Lexington
and Concord, Massachusetts on 19 April 1775 produced calls for independence.
In July of that year, the Second Continental Congress sent the King a petition for
redress and reconciliation, which Dickinson drafted in conspicuously respectful
language.
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The king did not formally answer to the petition. Instead, in a proclamation of
August 23, 1775, he asserted that the colonists were engaged in an "open and
avowed rebellion." Then, on October 26, he told Parliament that the American
rebellion was "manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an
independent Empire," and that the colonists' professions of loyalty to him and
the "parent State" were "meant only to amuse." News of the speech arrived at
Philadelphia in January 1776, just when Thomas Paine's Common Sense
appeared. American freedom would never be secure under British rule, Paine
argued, because the British government included two grave "constitutional
errors," monarchy and hereditary rule. Americans could secure their future and
that of their children only by declaring their independence and founding a new
government whose authority rested on the people alone, with no king or other
hereditary rulers. The pamphlet opened a widespread public debate on the
previously taboo subject of independence. News of Parliament's Prohibitory Act
(December 1775), which declared colonial ships and cargoes forfeit to the Crown
as if they were the possessions of "open enemies," added force to Paine's
argument, as did news that the Crown had hired German mercenary soldiers to
help subdue the Americans.

Finally, on 10 and 15 May 1776, Congress passed a resolution written by John

Adams with a radical preface that called for the total suppression of "every kind
of authority under the … crown" and the establishment of new state
governments "under the authority of the people." Simultaneously, on 15 May,
Virginia instructed its Congressional delegation to move that Congress declare
independence, negotiate foreign alliances, and design an American
confederation. As a result, on 7 June 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced the
following resolution: "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 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." Lee also moved that Congress "take the most effectual
measures for forming foreign Alliances" and prepare "a plan of confederation"
for the colonies' consideration.

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Congress debated Lee's resolution on Saturday, 8 May, and again the following
Monday. According to notes kept by Thomas Jefferson, most delegates conceded
that independence was justified and inevitable, but some argued for delay. The
colonies should negotiate agreements with potential European allies before
declaring independence, they said. Moreover, the delegates of several colonies,
including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, were
bound by instructions that precluded their voting for independence. Since
opinion in those colonies was said to be "fast advancing," even a short delay
might avoid a seriously divided vote. The delegates therefore put off the decision
until July, but on 11 June appointed a committee to draft a declaration on
independence. It had five members: Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of
Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York,
and Pennsylvania's Benjamin Franklin.

Drafting the Declaration

The drafting committee left no formal records of its proceedings, and the private
notes that Jefferson kept devote only a few sentences to the subject. The story
of the Declaration's creation must be pieced together from a handful of
documents of the time and from accounts by Jefferson and Adams, most of
which were written long after the event and sometimes contradict each other.
Before appointing a draftsman, it seems likely that the committee met, discussed
how the document should be organized, and perhaps wrote "minutes" or
instructions, as Adams said. Probably, as Jefferson claimed, he alone was asked
to write the document.

In the previous few weeks, Jefferson had drafted a preamble for Virginia's new
constitution. He clearly modeled its opening paragraph on the British Declaration
of Rights (February 1689), which charged King James II with attempting to
"subvert and extirpate" both the Protestant religion and the "Laws and Liberties
of this Kingdom." Jefferson similarly accused George III of attempting to establish
"a detestable & insupportable tyranny" in Virginia, and then listed a series of
transgressions that, like those in the British Declaration, began with the word
"by." Now he returned to a draft of his Virginia preamble that remained among
his papers, rearranging and expanding the list of grievances for use in the
Declaration of Independence. However, rather than start with a "Whereas"
clause, as had both his Virginia preamble and its British predecessor, Jefferson
proposed a magnificent opening paragraph beginning "When in the course of
human events." It identified what followed as having significance far beyond
America and Britain alone.

Home History United States and Canada U.S. History Declaration of

Independence

Select Source: Dictionary of American History

Dictionary of American History

American Eras

West's Encyclopedia of American Law

Dictionary of American History

West's Encyclopedia of American Law

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History

The Oxford Companion to British History

World Encyclopedia

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Declaration Of Independence

Dictionary of American History

COPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. This document, which the Second Continental

Congress adopted on 4 July 1776, proclaimed the original thirteen American
colonies independent of Great Britain and provided an explanation and
justification of that step. Although it was first drafted as a revolutionary
manifesto, Americans of later generations came to honor the Declaration less for
its association with independence than for its assertion that "all men are created
equal" and "are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights," among
which are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," individual rights that went
unmentioned in the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The Development of Independence

The original thirteen British colonies of mainland North America moved toward
independence slowly and reluctantly. The colonists were proud of being British
and had no desire to be separated from a mother country with which they were
united, as John Dickinson put it in his popular newspaper "letters" from "a
Farmer in Pennsylvania" (1767–1768), "by religion, liberty, laws, affections,
relation, language and commerce." Not even the outbreak of war at Lexington
and Concord, Massachusetts on 19 April 1775 produced calls for independence.
In July of that year, the Second Continental Congress sent the King a petition for
redress and reconciliation, which Dickinson drafted in conspicuously respectful
language.

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The king did not formally answer to the petition. Instead, in a proclamation of
August 23, 1775, he asserted that the colonists were engaged in an "open and
avowed rebellion." Then, on October 26, he told Parliament that the American
rebellion was "manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an
independent Empire," and that the colonists' professions of loyalty to him and
the "parent State" were "meant only to amuse." News of the speech arrived at
Philadelphia in January 1776, just when Thomas Paine's Common Sense
appeared. American freedom would never be secure under British rule, Paine
argued, because the British government included two grave "constitutional
errors," monarchy and hereditary rule. Americans could secure their future and
that of their children only by declaring their independence and founding a new
government whose authority rested on the people alone, with no king or other
hereditary rulers. The pamphlet opened a widespread public debate on the
previously taboo subject of independence. News of Parliament's Prohibitory Act
(December 1775), which declared colonial ships and cargoes forfeit to the Crown
as if they were the possessions of "open enemies," added force to Paine's
argument, as did news that the Crown had hired German mercenary soldiers to
help subdue the Americans.
Finally, on 10 and 15 May 1776, Congress passed a resolution written by John
Adams with a radical preface that called for the total suppression of "every kind
of authority under the … crown" and the establishment of new state
governments "under the authority of the people." Simultaneously, on 15 May,
Virginia instructed its Congressional delegation to move that Congress declare
independence, negotiate foreign alliances, and design an American
confederation. As a result, on 7 June 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced the
following resolution: "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 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." Lee also moved that Congress "take the most effectual
measures for forming foreign Alliances" and prepare "a plan of confederation"
for the colonies' consideration.

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Congress debated Lee's resolution on Saturday, 8 May, and again the following
Monday. According to notes kept by Thomas Jefferson, most delegates conceded
that independence was justified and inevitable, but some argued for delay. The
colonies should negotiate agreements with potential European allies before
declaring independence, they said. Moreover, the delegates of several colonies,
including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, were
bound by instructions that precluded their voting for independence. Since
opinion in those colonies was said to be "fast advancing," even a short delay
might avoid a seriously divided vote. The delegates therefore put off the decision
until July, but on 11 June appointed a committee to draft a declaration on
independence. It had five members: Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of
Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York,
and Pennsylvania's Benjamin Franklin.

Drafting the Declaration

The drafting committee left no formal records of its proceedings, and the private
notes that Jefferson kept devote only a few sentences to the subject. The story
of the Declaration's creation must be pieced together from a handful of
documents of the time and from accounts by Jefferson and Adams, most of
which were written long after the event and sometimes contradict each other.
Before appointing a draftsman, it seems likely that the committee met, discussed
how the document should be organized, and perhaps wrote "minutes" or
instructions, as Adams said. Probably, as Jefferson claimed, he alone was asked
to write the document.

In the previous few weeks, Jefferson had drafted a preamble for Virginia's new
constitution. He clearly modeled its opening paragraph on the British Declaration
of Rights (February 1689), which charged King James II with attempting to
"subvert and extirpate" both the Protestant religion and the "Laws and Liberties
of this Kingdom." Jefferson similarly accused George III of attempting to establish
"a detestable & insupportable tyranny" in Virginia, and then listed a series of
transgressions that, like those in the British Declaration, began with the word
"by." Now he returned to a draft of his Virginia preamble that remained among
his papers, rearranging and expanding the list of grievances for use in the
Declaration of Independence. However, rather than start with a "Whereas"
clause, as had both his Virginia preamble and its British predecessor, Jefferson
proposed a magnificent opening paragraph beginning "When in the course of
human events." It identified what followed as having significance far beyond
America and Britain alone.

Jefferson's famous second paragraph, which began "We hold these truths to be
sacred & undeniable," expressed ideas widely shared among the colonists. Its
language, however, owed much to an early version of the Virginia Declaration of
Rights written by George chMason. Jefferson took phrases from the Mason draft,
compressed them, then added language of his own to construct a single long
sentence, based on a standard eighteenth-century rhetorical device that
prescribed a series of phrases whose meaning became clear only at the end. The
Mason draft said, for example, "all men are born equally free and independent."
Jefferson wrote instead "that all men are created equal & independent," then
crossed out "& independent." The Mason draft asserted that men had "certain
inherent natural rights" that they could not "by any compact, deprive or divest
their posterity; among which are, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the
means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining
happiness and safety." Jefferson wrote instead that men had "inherent &
inalienable rights" including "life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness." To
secure those rights, he added, "Governments are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed." He concluded his series of
phrases with a powerful assertion of the people's right to abolish and replace a
government that became destructive of their rights—in short, of the right of
revolution, which the Americans were exercising in 1776. That right should not,
he went on to say, be invoked for "light & transient causes," but it became not
only the people's right but also their "duty to throw off" a government guilty of
"a long train of abuses & usurpations" moving toward the establishment of
"arbitrary power." And the reign of George III, Jefferson asserted, was "a history
of unremitting injuries and usurpations," directed toward "the establishment of
an absolute tyranny over the American states.

A long list of examples, or charges against the king, followed. They began not
with "by" but with the more emphatic words "he has." The first set of charges
recalled somewhat obscure grievances suffered by a specific colony or group of
colonies; then, under a charge that "he had combined with others" to perform
certain acts, the list recalled more familiar acts of Parliament that had received
the royal assent. A final section cited recent events, such as the king's "declaring
us out of his allegiance & protection" by approving the Prohibitory Act and
employing "large armies of foreign mercenaries" against his American subjects.
The Jefferson draft also charged the king with responsibility for the slave trade. A
king "whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant,"
the draft said, "is unfit to be the ruler of a people who mean to be free." A
rambling, angry penultimate section castigated the British people for supporting
King and Parliament. Then, in its final paragraph, the draft declared "these
colonies to be free and independent states" with all the rights of such states.
"And for the support of this declaration," it ended, "we"—the delegates who
would in time sign the document—"mutually pledge to each other our lives, our
fortunes, & our sacred honor."

Jefferson sketched out parts of the draft on scraps of paper, some of which
survive, then copied the whole to show to other members of the committee. He
also used that copy—the "original Rough draught," as he called it, which is now
at the Library of Congress—to record all subsequent editorial changes. Jefferson
submitted the draft to John Adams, who made a complete copy of the document
as it stood when he saw it, and also to Benjamin Franklin, who was recovering
from a severe attack of gout. They suggested some changes, and Jefferson
initiated others. Then, he told James Madison in 1823, he submitted the revised
document to the committee, which sent it "unaltered" to Congress. However, a
note he sent to Franklin with an already revised draft in June 1776 tells a
different tale. "The inclosed paper has been read and with some small alterations
approved by the committee," it said. Would Franklin please "peruse it and
suggest such alterations as his more enlarged view of the subject will dictate?
The paper having been returned to me to change a particular sentiment or two, I
propose laying it again before the committee tomorrow morning." Clearly the
draft was a collaborative effort, and some of the changes that appear on the
"rough draft" in Jefferson's handwriting were mandated by the committee.

Independence
On 28 June 1776, the committee submitted its draft to Congress, which promptly
tabled it for later consideration. Meanwhile, towns, counties, grand juries, and
some private groups publicly declared and explained their support for
independence. Gradually one state after another fell into line, revising their
Congressional instructions and sometimes also issuing state declarations of
independence either as separate documents (Maryland, 6 July 1776) or as
opening sections of their new constitutions (Virginia, 29 June, and New Jersey, 2
July). Those documents vary in form and style, but most of them recall the
colonists' past affection for the king and cite a familiar set of fairly recent events
to explain their change in sentiment—the king's neglect of the colonists' dutiful
petitions; his endorsement of the Prohibitory Act and hiring of German
mercenaries; his use of slaves and Indians against white colonists; the
devastation caused by his armies. They also explain independence as a step the
Americans accepted only to save themselves from destruction. Americans
needed to bid Britain "the last adieu," as Buckingham County, Virginia, put it,
before any foreign nations would, "for their own interest, lend an assisting hand
… and enable us to discharge the great burdens of the war."

Why 4 July 1776?

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 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.

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.

Revolution and Rights

Jefferson was acutely conscious of the momentous step that was being taken. This was
both a great act of rebellion and the creation of a new state which covered a vast
territory. He was therefore anxious to provide a philosophical justification for what
was being done and he took his model from John Locke’s defence of the 1688-89
Revolution in Britain. Locke had justified the deposition of James II by arguing that
government rested on a contract between government and governed and that, if the
government failed to deliver the ends which had persuaded the people to enter that
contract, it could be overturned. Jefferson spelt this out explicitly in the Declaration.
Men had rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and 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 organising its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. The idea
that governments get their authority from the consent of the governed was still in
1776 a contentious and provocative notion which ran counter to many traditional
ideas of monarchy.

But even more revolutionary than this was the claim that that all men are
created equal and have inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Many regarded rights as specific privileges which had been granted to certain people.
For example, in England, 40-shilling freeholders had a right to vote in the election of
county MPs. But to claim that a right was universal to the whole of mankind, that
people had certain rights simply by virtue of their humanity, was extraordinary

It’s great rhetoric, but what does a phrase like ‘all men are created equal’ mean?
Obviously they are not equally tall or equally strong, or equally intelligent. Nor did
Jefferson mean they should be equally rich. He was probably suggesting that everyone
had an equal right to life, to liberty and to the ability to pursue happiness. But his
other writings and actions seem to suggest that by ‘all men’ he meant all free, white,
property-owning males.

Drafting the Declaration

The drafting committee left no formal records of its proceedings, and the private
notes that Jefferson kept devote only a few sentences to the subject. The story of the
Declaration's creation must be pieced together from a handful of documents of the
time and from accounts by Jefferson and Adams, most of which were written long
after the event and sometimes contradict each other. Before appointing a draftsman,
it seems likely that the committee met, discussed how the document should be
organized, and perhaps wrote "minutes" or instructions, as Adams said. Probably, as
Jefferson claimed, he alone was asked to write the document.

Why Declare Independence?

The Declaration gives a lengthy list of grievances, but neglects to explain the cause.
The American colonies had been founded to help expand the British economy and
they provided a new society where those anxious to escape from life in Europe could
go. Virginia was the first, founded in 1607 and the colonisation of New England by the
Pilgrim Fathers followed in 1620. For a century and half, the British government largely
ignored the colonies. After his Restoration to the throne in 1660, Charles II tidied up
some of their charters and in the 1690s, after the Revolution of 1688-89, William and
Mary’s government modernised and codified the way they were governed and
administered. But for another half century after that Britain largely ignored the
colonies and the colonists enjoyed the freedom which that neglect gave them. It was
therefore a shock when, in the middle of the eighteenth century, British governments
started to develop a proper imperial policy and wanted to make changes in their
relationship with the colonies. In the eighteenth century Britain was engaged in a
number of wars against the French which were fought in three theatres: Europe, India
and North America. These wars were increasingly expensive. Eventually they
bankrupted the French crown and that in turn helped bring about the French
Revolution.
The British tried to tackle the problem of cost earlier, however, and when the Seven
Years War ended in 1763 they looked to the American colonists to contribute. The
British army did, after all, defend the colonists from the French and the Native
American Indians, or so the British argued, and it was only fair they should help pay.
Over the next 12 years, time and again the British tried to tax the Americans, and time
and again the Americans refused to pay. The British tried a variety of means, by law
and by force, to try to make the Americans obey and the American rejection of those
means is restated in the Declaration at length and in detail. So to understand about
two-thirds of the Declaration you need to known the history of British-colonial
relations from 1763 to 1776. Finally argument led to armed conflict and war broke out
in 1775 between Britain and the American colonies.

29 Maier, American Scripture, 25. The text of the 1775 king's speech is online
30 Maier, American Scripture, 25