Analysis of the Declaration of Independence
by W.M. Akers
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" and "all men are created equal" are a couple of phrases
from the Declaration of Independence that many Americans know by heart. These phrases are parts
of philosophies that inspired the very foundation of the American government. A close reading of
arguably the most important document in the early history of the United States can tell us more about
what kind of government the founding fathers wanted.
In a way, the Declaration of Independence is like a break-up letter or an email sent to a boss after a
long time working a hated job. "I quit!" it says. "And here's why." The Declaration is an interesting
document to read, even more than two centuries after it was written.
The intellectual foundation of the Declaration is explained in just a few sentences in the second
paragraph. "All men are created equal," writes author Thomas Jefferson. And everyone has basic
rights that cannot be taken away, including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Any
government that tries to deny those rights to its people is a government that should not deserve to
exist. Perhaps the most revolutionary idea in this paragraph comes in the statement that a
government's power derives "from the consent of the governed." To make such a statement to
England's King George III, who believed that his right to rule came from God, was quite a bold move.
In the 18th century, this was cutting-edge philosophy, the sort of thing that French intellectuals like
Voltaire and Rousseau might have discussed in Parisian coffee houses. However, Jefferson spends a
few lines on these matters before moving on to the nitty-gritty: a list of complaints that he refers to as
"a history of repeated injuries and usurpations." After decades of monarchical rule, the colonists
became angry at how they were being ruled, and they weren't going to take it anymore. These
complaints give insight into the sort of things that bothered the colonists by 1776. Let's look at a few
specific lines and think a little bit about what they mean.
In one of the first complaints, the king is accused of holding legislative meetings "at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant" from their ordinary locations. This is a reference to specific occasions in
Massachusetts and Virginia, where regular legislative meeting places were changed to locations so
inconvenient that most of the lawmakers could not make the journey. If they did make the long trip,
they would be too tired to argue with unjust decision-making. "Fatiguing them into compliance with
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Analysis of the Declaration of Independence
[the king's] measures," writes Jefferson, was the "sole purpose" for moving these public meetings
around.
The right for people to watch their government in action has been an important part of American
democracy ever since. This is why local city council meetings are generally open to the public and
why even small government decisions-the altering of a school district, for instance-must be
preceded by a public hearing. When citizens speak at such a hearing, they are able to do so because
of the colonists who demanded that public meetings be held in convenient locations.
Most of the first part of the list concerns similar bureaucratic complaints. The king controlled the
appointment and payment of judges, making them more likely to rule in his favor. He passed laws
making it difficult for new colonists to immigrate. When colonial lawmakers complained about such
injustices, the king would dissolve their "Representative Houses...for opposing with manly firmness"
his policies. These are all important complaints, but they only make up the first part of the list of
complaints. Jefferson then mentions the continued presence of the king's soldiers in the colonies.
After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, the British armies were not dissolved. Instead,
they remained in the colonies. A "standing army" was maintained to supposedly guard against French
or Indian aggression, though the colonists suspected it was intended to limit their freedom. Several
entries in the middle of the list of grievances are taken up by complaints about the presence of these
soldiers.
"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power," Jefferson
writes-a way of saying that it was like the colonies had been converted to a military dictatorship,
because the king's armies were not under the control of local governments. Then, it gets worse.
Jefferson blasts the king "for Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us," a reference to the
Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774, which required local governments to house and feed British
soldiers.
As the colonists saw it, these protections given to the British army were not just a matter of money or
privacy, but of justice. Because of the Administration of Justice Act of 1774, popularly known as the
"Murder Act," British officials accused of crimes in Massachusetts could be tried in Britain. This meant
that a British soldier could kill a colonist and escape trial by local jury, instead being tried in front of a
more friendly English court. In his next complaint, Jefferson refers to this as "a mock trial."
The colonists were so incensed by the Quartering Act that, after the Revolutionary War was finished,
they wrote a special amendment to the new Constitution to prevent such a law from ever being
passed in the United States. It read: "No Soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house,
without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law." This
was so important to the founders that they made it the Third Amendment, following only the freedom
of speech and the right to bear arms.
When the Declaration of Independence was written and ratified in the summer of 1776, the
Revolutionary War had already begun. The Battle of Bunker Hill had occurred the year before, upon
which the king declared the colonies in open rebellion. He sent his army and navy to contain the
revolt and hired Hessian mercenaries from Germany to supplement his forces. The response to these
actions concludes Jefferson's list, and it is here his strength as a writer becomes most apparent.
He accuses the king of "waging War against us," saying that "he has plundered our seas, ravaged our
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Analysis of the Declaration of Independence
Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of the people." The hiring of the Hessians draws
even sharper comment, as Jefferson refers to "large Armies of foreign Mercenaries [coming] to
complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty
and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a
civilized nation."
Although a written document, the Declaration of Independence was intended to be read aloud
throughout the colonies as a way of inciting frustrated citizens to rebel against their king. For this
reason, it makes sense that it starts slowly, introducing the intellectual argument calmly, before
steadily rising to a fever pitch of rage and indignation. Even listeners unmoved by the opening
paragraphs-the now famous ones-would be excited by this talk of death and destruction and
tyranny.
The Declaration of Independence was not solely meant to serve as a nation's founding documment. It
was to be used to raise an army and protect a rebellion that had just barely begun.
What is the cause described in the passage for the colonists' decision to write the Declaration of Independence?(1 point)
Responses
The colonists' grievances against King George III
The colonists' grievances against King George III
The desire for a new form of government
The desire for a new form of government
The need to establish independence from Britain
The need to establish independence from Britain
The intellectual arguments of French philosophers