Thomas T.

Vieira

Janie Dawson

English 3A

19 October 2021

The Declaration of Independence and its Importance

As is commonly conceived, the independence of a nation to act freely towards other

countries and to manage its resources by themselves cannot be a bad thing to have and wish for
as a citizen. That by itself can already be used as an argument in favor of the importance of the
Declaration of Independence of any generic (as in any country) country, but the narrative is a lit-
tle bit different when examining the United States.

First and foremost, it is essential for anyone who is studying the international relations of
the XVIII century to acknowledge the impact that the secession of the United States from Great
Britain has dealt not only to countries all over America and Europe but, especially, the impor-
tance it holds on to the stipulation of rights and the forming of governments through the world
and eras. It not only was one of the greatest revolutions o that brought us the era we live in but it
also, arguably as much as the English and French Revolution, helped create the modern form of
government and State. That is due to the ideals and beliefs it was originally proclaimed upon,
claiming liberty, righteousness, and the rights of any and every individual. Even though such an
argument is already fully complete and independent by itself, it can also be linked to some other
points that are still to be made.

For instance, it is of utmost importance to emphasize that the values upon which the
United States was established and has its foundations are those of freedom, life, and nation,
which can all be connected to the declaration of independence of the US. Life and freedom go
hand in hand with each other, being ideals commonly held as positive. Despite the political con-
troversy the ideal of the nation holds, it is also important to acknowledge its importance in the
creation of the United States, as it was predominant in various crucial moments in history. Re-
garding such polarization of ideals, we face today, it is also important to look into how that af-
fects the event itself, as in form of the moment of the Declaration of Independence when it hap-
pened, the document, and the commemorative date.

Giving new meanings to various things, moments and traditions is one of the main things
that makes history such a hard and interesting thing to study in-depth. Such a phenomenon, of
course, happened to the Declaration of Independence. Even though the date is being celebrated
by the huge majority of the population of the United States, both scholars and common people
contest the importance of the date, as happened to the ideal of nations, which was cited earlier,
claiming that it would not be right to celebrate an event led by people who did not have the same
 Vieira 2

moral standards we do today. It is also claimed that the data tends to be more compatible with on
side of political warfare, which makes it a target of negative opinions by the opposition.

Even so, both of those points of view stand on very fragile foundations. At first, we can-
not look into history people’s actions and judge them by our moral standards alone. If we did
that, we would conclude that almost every person that lived before the XX century. It is ex-
tremely important to look both into the way people lived a certain age and the place they are. If
we do not analyze history that way all of our history books would be somewhat inaccurate. Also,
regarding the argument that the date has more to do with one side than the other, it is nonsensical
to subjugate such an important date for this reason. Both the Declaration of Independence and
the ideal of a nation should be held above political sides, as these ideals and events were what
formed the ground for the political discussion we have today.

Therefore, by asserting the importance of the declaration of Independence to both the

United States and the World and also by analyzing contrary views toward its importance, we
come to the conclusion that the day, importance, and legacy of the said event should not only be
celebrated by those who endorse it personally but also by those who, even disliking the event by
itself, enjoy its sequences and the tradition it brought to the United States,