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The Declaration of Independence
1776
"We have it in our power to begin the World over again."
-- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
The Declaration of Independence clothed the great essentials in eloquence. Intended to convince, the Declaration also inspired. With an enviable economy of words, this first official document of the United States of America brilliantly advanced the search for the basic principles of American national government.
Through the mind and pen of the document's primary author, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration immortalized the "truths" upon which just government must depend.
Recall the words used to express these truths. They have become unfamiliar around the world. "All men are created equal," the Declaration says. Each has "unalienable rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The role of government is simple; government exists primarily to secure these unalienable, individual rights using power that flows from "the consent of the governed."
Separation from Great Britain, argued the Declaration, became necessary because of the "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the King, injuries that Jefferson listed for review by "a candid world." Independence, when claimed "in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies," became the logical, and painful, course of action. |