The 1776 Declaration of Independence was much more than an affirmation of rights for the states to be self‑governing; it also was a deed of American liberties for all men as individuals, to live and freely pursue individual goals because it is our God-given natural right. It is a written statement of human rights against any and every sort of tyranny.
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1776 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Before 1776, the American colonists did not have a need to seek independence from Britain; however, there arose a serious issue of opposition against the mother country from almost all of the colonists because they had no representation in British Parliament. The colonists strongly felt that only their own elected colonial assemblies had the right to tax them. And, in the end, that one issue caused all the trouble.
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“O! ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the Globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.”
Thomas Paine – Common Sense – 15 January 1776
By the spring of 1776, a break with Britain was the dominant sentiment among the colonies. On 12 April, the North Carolina Convention authorized its Congressional delegates to vote for a declaration of independence. Virginia followed with their vote on the 15 May. Richard Henry Lee offered a resolution to the Continental Congress on 7 June 1776.
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“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.”
Richard Henry Lee – Continental Congress – June 1776
This proposal was debated in Congress between 7-10 June and it was decided that a resolution be postponed until 1 July. A committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman was appointed on 11 June to prepare a Declaration of Independence.
Newell C. Wyeth
SPRING 1776 – DRAFTING THE DECLARATION
The committee then agreed that Thomas Jefferson would write the draft of the Declaration. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin made a few changes, and the draft was presented to Congress on 28 June. Jefferson declared that he “turned to neither book nor pamphlet” in the preparation of the paper. He said that he drew upon the commonplace political philosophy of “natural rights” and his long list of despotic “abuses and usurpations” by King George III to assert the right and duty of the American people to dissolve their tie to Britain, and to proclaim the United Colonies free and independent States.
to the Continental Congress | revolutionary-war.net
Rembrandt Peale, 1800 / wikipedia.org
“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.’
“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.”
Thomas Jefferson – Declaration of Independence
On 1 July, Congress sat as a committee to debate the Lee resolution. It was brought to a vote and the motion carried, with South Carolina and Pennsylvania in the negative and Delaware’s vote divided. On 2 July, Congress sat in formal session, instead of as a committee, and the final vote was for independence (12 for and none against). South Carolina changed their vote, a third delegate from Delaware (Caesar Rodney – Continental Congress 1774-1776) threw that colony’s vote to independence, and Pennsylvania’s vote swung affirmative when John Dickinson and Robert Morris intentionally made themselves absent. The New York delegation was advised on 11 June by the New York Provincial Congress to abstain their vote by taking no action for or against independence.
Next, Congress debated the content and form of the Declaration (2-3 July) and they made several changes. The amended Declaration of Independence was approved without dissent and was signed by John Hancock (president) and Charles Thomson (secretary) on the fourth of July.
SUMMER 1776 – UNANIMOUS DECLARATION
The Declaration of Independence was for the first time publicly announced in Philadelphia on 8 July 1776 and was read before Washington and his troops in New York City the next day. The Provincial Congress of New York voted also on 9 July to endorse the Declaration, and on 19 July, Congress resolved to have the “Unanimous Declaration” written on parchment paper for the signature of the delegates.
By August 2, the majority of the 56 signatures were added to the Declaration and each signer knew that by adding their name to it, they would be considered traitors to the Crown and such an act made them accountable for execution.
commentary
For as long as I live, I will be indebted to the sacrifices of those who had courageously stood and fought in the American Revolution for freedom against the evils of tyranny. I am blessed to have inherited this personal freedom of individual happiness, but the foundation for this 237-year-old freedom is decaying from the neglect of our nation’s basic beliefs: religious doctrine, economic management, rule of law, and a civil society. Family, faith, and community in today’s American society are disintegrating, moving along the same road taken by other great civilizations that led them to their downfall, such as the Roman Empire.
So … let’s take a closer, historical look at the Presidential Obama Administration from 2008 to 2016. This Presidential Administration openly declared from its beginning that a national transformation of the United States needed to be implemented. The prevailing history of the United States and its customs would be changed to reflect a socialist-progressive culture and society, like the European Union. And America’s Constitutional freedoms would all be eventually dismantled.
As time passed, Obama’s idealist transformational tactics forced a societal collapse, which frightened and threatened most American citizens. There was a breakdown of political ethics, wasteful economic spending, military downsizing, censorship of free speech, snatching personal information from its citizens without consent, unlawful and prejudiced discrimination from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against American citizens who have opposing thoughts on ideology and politics. There was abuse of public money within governmental agencies, insecure and porous national borders, illegal immigration, empowerment of terrorists with citizen rights, illogical restrictions on energy and the environment, the pursuit of government ownership of education, unwanted socialist national healthcare system, and prejudiced, discrimination of faith.
This repressive administration made it clearly evident over its last four years that it was involved in corruption and political crime. Its actions intentionally injured the United States and her citizens by usurping more authority to empower an even bigger government that directly threatened our nation’s survival. Its corruption extended as well into the Secretary of State position, which was initially held by Hillary Clinton, and then well into her presidential campaign.
Many American citizens have become soft and uninformed, which make them easy targets for communist/fascist propaganda. They prefer to remain neutral in life as well as in politics and, as a result, their simplistic views blind them to the growing danger of tyranny. Tyranny uses economic punishment and political suppression as ways to shepherd citizens into a culture of submissiveness and dependency. Control is the insatiable objective of statism, and that means eliminating political opposition, and reorganizing every facet of our country’s political, social, and economic way of life. Such a one-party system, as described throughout history, becomes a ruthless, totalitarian monster managed by a few men at the top. Every phase and aspect of one’s life is planned and controlled from cradle to grave.
Morality, religion, and knowledge are the principles needed for a fundamental code of behavior in society, and these elements are the basic structure of a free government. My individual freedoms, unalienable rights, and cultural identity are still being threatened today by the corruption of my country’s government – specifically, the leftist-democrat party – who were elected to guard our freedoms and rights from the very thugs that they have become. They have displayed no respect for the people and have no regard for the Constitution. I do not want to live under a tyrannical, governmental authority that forces me to live a dependent existence in order to serve a “State.” I want to live with self-reliance and freedom to pursue my own interests. I want to express my independent thoughts, own private property, and celebrate my ethnic/family traditions that were passed down from previous generations.
The Fourth of July – Independence Day – and the Declaration of Independence have become more valuable to me over the years and more precious than metal or stone, fame or fortune. I know God blessed this Declaration of Independence, and I revere this document not only because of God’s favor but also because of the valiancy by this country’s founders who knew that by signing it, they could face death as traitors to the British Crown. They were honorable men who lived prudent lives, and so I look to their principles of life as an example of what our Declaration of Independence truly means.
References
Dupuy,R. Ernest and Trevor N. Dupuy. 1975. An Outline History of the American Revolution.
Levin, Mark. 2009. Liberty and Tyranny, A Conservative Manifesto. Threshold Editions.
Miers, Earl Schenck (ed.) 1956. The American Story: The Age of Exploration to the Age of the Atom. Dumas Malone: Prophet of the American Way.
Morris, Richard B. 1953. Encyclopedia of American History. Era of the American Revolution.
Paine, Thomas. 1776. Common Sense and Other Writings. Barnes and Nobles Classics, New York (2005).
Skousen, W Cleon. 1981. The 5000 Year Leap: The 28 Great Ideas that Changed the World. National Center for Constitutional Studies.
Published 2013 / Updated November 2020