If you haven’t read my previous post on the Declaration of Independence, you may be asking why I’m spending so much time on it since this site is dedicated to studying the Constitution. The short version is: It gives us context for the Constitution. It not only helps us understand why we needed a Constitution, but why our governments (and yes, I mean multiple governments) are set up the way they are.
So why did our Founding Fathers declare independence? I’m sure you’ve all heard it was because of “taxation without representation”, but there is so much more, which I’ll get to later. Before we get into the why of declaring independence, we’ll look at who was doing what.
The Declaration starts out with “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America”. That’s not a typo; the thirteen States of America were declaring independence from Great Britain. They were united in their desire to assume “the separate and equal station” of other states like Great Britain, France, and Spain. Today we think of the United States of America as a single entity, but we started out as thirteen independent and sovereign states, united in a goal. How did these thirteen states justify this breaking away? It starts with self evident truths.
Some of the most famous words from the Declaration are:
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.
Our Founding Fathers thought these truths were so self-evident that everyone should just know them. What was so obvious as to not require justification? That all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights from their creator. Any honest look at history, not just in America but throughout the world, will show that while it may be obvious that all men are created equal, most certainly aren’t treated that way. While that may be fodder for another post, our Founding Fathers, with rare exception, wanted to create a land where this basic truth was recognized. Only then could we move toward treating all men equally.
The other blatantly obvious fact our Founding Fathers referenced was a person’s “unalienable rights”. I’m working on a post where I go into detail about these rights, so today let’s just agree that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have been given to us by our creator and therefore cannot be taken away by government, only infringed.
Why are these two self-evident truths so important?
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men
The purpose of government is to secure these rights for their citizens. When a government fails in this, it is the right and duty of the citizens to alter or abolish it. Our Founding Fathers went on to list 27 specific grievances, actions taken by the British government that violated their duty to secure the rights of its citizens in the colonies. I’m sure we’ve all heard that we declared independence because of “taxation without representation”, and technically that is kind of true. Taxation without consent is one of the grievances listed. In fact it is number 17 out of 27. While it did make the list, it obviously wasn’t top on our Founders minds when it came to reasons to declare independence. In fact, out of control judicial systems and government agencies, including military and civilian without effective means for securing justice, are the issues listed most in the Declaration. Multiple attempts to alter the situation were ineffective; in many cases things got worse. Since they could find no way to alter the government that was abusing their rights, they decided to abolish it and start one of their own. By their own words, they planned a form of government that was most likely to secure their rights. While the Articles of Confederation were not able to function sufficiently, after the war a new document was created, a Constitution specifically designed to secure our rights and learn from the mistakes made by both the British and the Americans.
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.
Lastly, a very important point is raised. You see, this declaration was not simply the creation of a few men, but of representatives of the people of the colonies. We, as a people through these representatives, declared our right to be free and independent. Not a single nation, but thirteen independent states, with all the powers and responsibilities thereof. Thirteen states united in a desire to live freely, to have our rights protected, and to hold our leaders accountable. This experiment in self-rule would lead to wars both internal and external. There would be ups and downs, with those who worked toward liberty and others who worked to centralize power and control. But our rights, and the expectation of our government to protect them, was so important that 56 men signed proof of their rebellion, dedicating their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the task at hand. This website is dedicated to the idea that those self evident truths are worth defending, and worth the time and effort to read, study, and understand what they are.
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.
