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Daryl Williams

Professor Zitko

POLI120-71634

1 November 2018

The Purposes Behind The Declaration of Independence

The day was July 4th, 1776 when members of the Continental Congress issued a

statement showcasing they are through with the mass amount of abuse thrown their way by Great

Britain, this statement which had an audience beyond those who called themselves an American

after its effects took place; is known as The Declaration of Independence (David Armitage, 2002,

pg. 45). Within this statement served a purpose to separate the thirteen colonies from King

George III due to the tyranny he had caused within said colonies. Such tyranny included but was

not limited to waging war against the colonists, such as the battle of Lexington and Concord.

This battle was a major reason for the colonies disbandment from Great Britain due to the war

being started by British troops sent from the King himself. Another example is the destruction of

the ability for colonists to self-rule, this had caused an uproar due to the colonists not being able

to make any laws of their own, along with having to pay taxes to the King. Taxation had not felt

tolerable to the colonists because they were paying a government which had not even represented

them in the slightest, arguing that due to the taxes being passed by parliament in England, there

should be no correlation to the colonist's government. This whole debate surrounded around

taxation later resulted in the well known Boston Tea Party. In addition to these guidelines, the
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colonists were being forced to keep British soldiers in their homes due to the French and Indian

war, even having to keep them years after the war even took place.

Due to these somewhat harsh conditions, the colonists had decided to make The

Declaration and within this statement established some other concepts, one of these concepts

being the universal truths. The ideas behind these universal truths as stated in the preamble of the

Declaration of Independence are as follows “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. 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” (Jefferson, 1776)​.​ These universal truths were polar

opposites to the rules given by King George III, an example being the line speaking of deriving

power from the consent of the governed clearly reeling back from the King’s reign of altering the

judicial processes given to the colonists in his favor and only his favor alone. Of course, the

colonists did not stop there, as they felt the need to also advance with the idea of natural rights.

These natural rights were put in place to keep balance and make the colonists feel secure, an

example being the already described unalienable rights in The Declaration; life, liberty, and the

pursuit of happiness. These rights were given to all, even those newly born and could not be

taken away by any government of any type, although it did take longer for some to gain this right

than others. Also not shockingly enough, it seemed these rights and more in The Declaration

were freedoms of action which those of the British had highly revered (David G. Ritchie, 2013,

pg.15). As for the social contract theory, proposed by none other than John Locke, Thomas
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Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; envisioned the social contract as a duality of terms from the

written constitution and limitations of the government, believing that even if any bill of law were

to be absent, these unalienable rights would still take place for all (Thomas B McAffee, 1992, pg.

268). This concept is highly focused on the morality of a given rule and or situation based upon a

written form of agreement. Another concept prompted within the colonists was popular

sovereignty, this concept is practically described within the universal truths itself within the lines

of “government deriving their power from the consent of the governed along with the ability to

abolish, alter, and create a new government”(Jefferson, 1776). The colonists had started to

establish popular sovereignty by demonstrating a form of “supra-legal” with the American

Revolution, dissolving the political bands that held them together with the British Authority;

showcasing one of the universal truths of being able to abolish their government (Michael A.

Dawson, 1992, pg. 283).

Despite the colonist's universal truth in The Declaration stating that “all men are created

equal” this was merely not the case whatsoever at the time being, in fact, they should have

instead written it as “all rich white men are created equal”. As Lincoln himself even stated that

the universal term had no particular use for the time period along with helping the colonists

separation from Britain and would instead be used for future debates involving the topic (David

Armitage, 2007, pg. 26). Slavery was a common thing back in the 1770s and would persist all

the way until 1865 after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed. Lincoln who had stated that the

universal truth of “all men are created equal” was ultimately wrong, and believed that slavery

had been unethical and should be abolished; hence why he said the truth would be discussed in

future debates involving the topic. But alas this truth also had no application to women, as they
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too suffered from unequal rights, such as but not limited to; being ineligible to vote, unable to be

in office, and having basically no control over a man at all, women slaves had suffered the most

out of everyone. Following the abolishment of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865

came the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, allowing men of color more or less those of a slave

origin, eligible to vote, of course this still did not credit women of color but was a step in the

right direction of “all men are created equal”. Finally in 1920 due to the Nineteenth Amendment,

all women had the right to vote taking an even bigger step into equality for all, but not quite yet,

just because women and men of color were able to vote along with slavery being abolished did

not mean the end of inequality. People of color were still highly discriminated against, being

separated from whites in literally everything due to the Jim Crows laws, such laws showcased

pure insanity and racism towards normal people, including laws limiting the freedoms of where

people of color drank, ate, and went to school, along with other common activities, it was almost

as if nothing had truly changed. The universal truth “all men are created equal” debate came up

once more in the fight for civil rights for people of color; known as the Civil Rights Movement

which took place in both the 1950s and 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement is full of historic

events each pertaining to their own type of importance of this issue; from the Washington March

to the horrid Bloody Sunday, it seemed the universal truth of “all men are created equal” was far

from ever becoming a reality, despair was brought upon so many men and women who just

wanted to stay true to this statement and but instead they were pushed to the side along with

these inequalities. April 11th, 1968 was the day harsh discrimination finally came to a stopping

point, with the Fair Housing Act law; preventing any housing discrimination against anyone

based on their religion, race, sex, and historical origin. This act may have demolished
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segregation but inequality is still present to this day, how could anyone state that “all men are

created equal” when women are still being paid less than men for doing the exact same work as

them, or how statistically white men will make more money than any man of color despite

working in the exact same positions. Yes, the world has gained a greater stride towards achieving

the true meaning of “all men are created equal” but there is still much to be changed before the

humanity can be truly defined as “equal”.

The Declaration of Independence has had select influences on the modern era American

political culture, these influences can be seen scattered all over such as the unalienable right

known as liberty. The right to liberty is seen today by letting the people of America do what they

please with more or less some safety limitations. Such as when it comes to freedom of speech;

people have the unalienable right to say whatever it is they want, without anything holding them

back. The decision of voting; despite gaining the ability to vote for both people of color and

women you still can decide to not vote at all. The right to bear arms; if you want to keep

possession of your weapons for your own personal safety, you are free to do so. And everyone is

entitled to have legal representation even if you are unable to afford the expenses. The fact that

modern American political culture is a democracy also had been influenced by The Declaration

due to the universal truth of governments being instituted among men with deriving their power

from the consent of the governed. These are just a few of the valid examples taken from The

Declaration which can be reflected upon the modern day era of American political culture.
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Works Cited

Armitage, David. “​The Declaration of Independence.​ ” Google Books, 2007,

books.google.com/books

Armitage, David “​The William and Mary Quarterly” ​Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jan. 2002), pp. 39-64

scholar.harvard.edu/files/armitage/files/2002wmq.pdf

Dawson, Michael A. ​"Popular Sovereignty, Double Jeopardy, and the Dual Sovereignty

Doctrine.​" Yale Lj 102 (1992): 281.

digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/

McAffee, Thomas B. "​The Bill of Rights, Social Contract Theory, and the Rights Retained by the

People​." S. Ill. ULJ 16 (1991): 267.

scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/

Otis, James, and Richard Dana. “​The rights of the British colonies asserted and proved”​ . Boston:

Edes and Gill, 1764.

cdn.constitutionreader.com/files/pdf/constitution/ch12.pdf

Pencak, William. “​The Declaration of Independence: Changing Interpretations and a New

Hypothesis.​ ” IK: Other Ways of Knowing, 3 July 1990,

journals.psu.edu/phj/article/view/24824/24593

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