The Declaration of Independence of the United States is a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The Declaration declared that thirteen American colonists then fought with the Kingdom Britain would consider themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took the first collective step towards the formation of the United States. The declaration was signed by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
The declaration was adopted on July 2 without a disagreement. A five-person committee has put it together to be ready when Congress votes for independence. John Adams, a leader in encouraging independence, has persuaded the committee to elect Thomas Jefferson to draw up the original draft of the document, edited by Congress to produce the final version. The declaration was the official explanation why Congress decided on July 2 to declare independence from Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Adams writes to his wife Abigail, "The Second Day of July 1776, to be the most memorable Epocha, at the History of America" ​​- even though Independence Day is actually celebrated on July 4, the date on which the Declaration of Independence Approved.
After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress passed the Declaration of Independence in some form. It was originally published as a widely distributed and widely read publication of Dunlap. The copy of the source used for this printing has been lost and may be a copy in the hands of Thomas Jefferson. The original draft of Jefferson is kept in the Library of Congress, complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, as well as Jefferson's account of changes made by Congress. The most famous version of the Declaration is an autographed copy shown at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and which is popularly regarded as an official document. This fun copy was ordered by Congress on July 19 and signed mainly on 2 August.
Sources and interpretations The Declaration has been the subject of many scientific investigations. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by registering colonial grievances against King George III and by affirming certain natural and legal rights, including the right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in declaring independence, the reference to the Declaration text is only slightly in the following years. Abraham Lincoln made it the center of his policy and his rhetoric, as in Gettysburg Address 1863. Since then, this has been a well-known statement of human rights, especially his second punishment:
We hold this truth to be real, that all men are created equal, that they are blessed by their Creator with inalienable Rights, among them are Life, Freedom, and the pursuit of Happiness.
It has been called "one of the most famous sentences in English", containing "the most powerful and consequential words in American history". This section represents the moral standards that the United States must strive for. This view was primarily promoted by Lincoln, who regarded the Declaration as the foundation of his political philosophy and argued that it was a statement of principles to be interpreted by the Constitution of the United States.
The US Declaration of Independence inspired many similar documents in other countries, the first of which was the 1789 Flanders Declaration issued during the Brabant Revolution in the Netherlands of Austria (modern Belgium). It also served as the main model for many declarations of independence in Europe and Latin America, as well as Africa (Liberia) and Oceania (New Zealand) during the first half of the 19th century.
Video United States Declaration of Independence
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Believe me, my lord: there is no one in the English empire, a man who loves more union with England than me. But, by the God who made me, I will vanish before I succumb to relationships with terms as the British Parliament proposes; and in this case, I think I'm talking about American sentiment.
By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and the British had fought for over a year. Relations have worsened between colonies and first ladies since 1763. Parliament imposed a series of measures to increase revenues from the colony, such as the 1765 Stamps Act and Townshend Acts 1767. Parliament believed that this act was a legitimate way of having the colonies pay a fair share of the fees for keeping them in the United Kingdom.
Many invaders, however, have developed different conceptions of the empire. Colonies are not directly represented in Parliament, and the colonies argue that Parliament has no right to levy taxes on them. These tax disputes are part of a larger distinction between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies. The orthodox British view, which originated in the Great Revolution of 1688, was that the Parliament was the supreme ruler of the whole empire, and therefore, whatever was done by the Parliament was constitutional. However, in the colonies, the idea has developed that the English Constitution recognizes certain fundamental rights that can not be violated by governments, even Parliament. After Townshend Acts, some essays even began to question whether the Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colony at all. Anticipating the setting of the British Commonwealth, by 1774 American authors such as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson argued that Parliament was the only legislature of Great Britain, and that the colonies, who had their own legislature, connected with the rest of the empire only through their loyalty to the Crown.
Congress held
The issue of parliamentary authority in the colony became a crisis after Parliament passed the Coercion Act (known as the Unacceptable Acts in the colonies) in 1774 to punish Massachusetts Province for the Boston Tea Party 1773. Many colonies saw the Coercive Act as a violation of the British Constitution and thus a threat to the freedom of all British Americans. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia to coordinate the response. Congress organized a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king to withdraw the lawsuit. These measures did not work because King George and Prime Minister Lord North's ministries were determined not to back down on the issue of parliamentary supremacy. As the king wrote to the North in November 1774, "the blow must decide whether they should submit to this country or be independent".
Most of the colonies still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, even after the battle began in the American Revolutionary War in Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Second Continental Congress was held at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia in May 1775, and several delegates hoped for its eventual independence. , but no one has suggested to say so. Many invaders no longer believe that the Parliament has sovereignty over them, yet they still declare loyalty to King George, whom they hope will intervene. They were disappointed at the end of 1775, when the king rejected both Congressional appeals, issued the Proclamation of the Uprising, and announced before the Parliament on Oct. 26 that he was considering a "friendly offer of foreign aid" to suppress the insurgency. A pro-American minority in Parliament warns that the government is pushing the colonists toward independence.
Maps United States Declaration of Independence
Towards independence
The Pamphlet Thomas Paine Common Sense was published in January 1776, just as it became clear in the colonies that the king was not inclined to act as a conciliator. Paine had just arrived in the colonies of England, and she argued for colonial independence, advocating republicanism as an alternative to monarchy and hereditary rule. Common Sense makes a persuasive and fiery case for independence, which has not been given serious intellectual consideration in American colonies. Paine links independence with Protestant beliefs as a means of demonstrating clear American political identity, stimulating public debate on topics previously rarely spoken of openly, and public support for separation from Great Britain continued to increase after publication.
Some colonists still held out hope for reconciliation, but developments in early 1776 further strengthened public support for independence. In February 1776, the colonists learned from the Parliament section of the Prohibition Law, which established the American harbor blockade and declared the American ship to be an enemy ship. John Adams, a strong supporter of independence, believes that Parliament has effectively declared American independence before Congress is able to do so. Adams labeled the "Act of Independency" Prohibition Act, calling it "a Dismemberment of the British Empire" cut. Support for declaring independence grows even more when it is confirmed that King George has hired German mercenaries to use against his American people.
Despite the increasing popular support for independence, Congress has no clear authority to declare it. Delegates have been elected to Congress by 13 different governments, which include extralegal conventions, ad hoc committees, and elected assemblies, and they are bound by the instructions given to them. Regardless of their personal opinion, delegates can not choose to declare independence unless their instructions permit such action. Some colonies, in fact, expressly prohibit their delegation from taking any steps to separate from the United Kingdom, while other delegates have ambiguous instructions on this issue; consequently, supporters of independence sought to have Congressional instruction revised. In order for Congress to declare independence, the majority of delegates will require authorization to vote for it, and at least one colonial government needs to specifically instruct its delegation to propose a declaration of independence in Congress. Between April and July 1776, "elaborate political warfare" was waged to bring this about.
Revise the instructions
In a campaign to revise the instructions of Congress, many Americans officially expressed their support for parting from Great Britain in an effective declaration of state and local independence. Historian Pauline Maier identifies over ninety such declarations issued throughout the Thirteen Colonies from April to July 1776. These "statements" take on various forms. Some are official written instructions for congressional delegates, such as the Halifax Resolution on April 12, in which North Carolina became the first colony to explicitly authorize delegates to vote for independence. Others are legislative measures that formally end British rule in individual colonies, such as the Rhode Island legislature declaring independence from Great Britain on May 4, the first colony to do so. Many "declarations" are resolutions adopted at city or district meetings that offer support for independence. Some came in the form of a jury instruction, such as a statement issued on April 23, 1776, by Chief Justice William Henry Drayton of South Carolina: "state law gives me the authority to declare... that George Third, i> Great Britain ... has no authority over us, and we have no obedience to it. "Most of these declarations are now unclear, overshadowed by a declaration approved by Congress on July 2, and signed July 4.
Some colonies refrained from supporting independence. Resistance is centered in the central colonies of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Pro-independence supporters see Pennsylvania as the key; if the colony could be converted into a pro-independence cause, it is believed that others would follow. On May 1, opponents of independence retained control of the Pennsylvania Assembly in a special election focusing on the issue of independence. In response, Congress passed a resolution on May 10 promoted by John Adams and Richard Henry Lee, calling for colonies without "enough government for the urgency of their affairs" to adopt a new government. The resolution was ratified unanimously, and was even endorsed by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, leader of the anti-independence faction in Congress, who believed that was not valid for his colony.
May 15 opening
As is customary, Congress appoints a committee to draft a preamble to explain the purpose of the resolution. John Adams wrote the opening, stating that since King George had rejected reconciliation and employed foreign mercenaries to use against the colony, "it is necessary that the exercise of any kind of authority under the crown must be completely suppressed". The opening of Adams is intended to encourage the overthrow of the governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland, which are still under exclusive government. Congress passed the opening on May 15 after several days of debate, but four colonies were against it, and the Maryland delegation came out in protest. Adams sees the May 15th opening effectively as a declaration of American independence, although formal declarations still have to be made.
Lee's Lee's Lee Resolution
On the same day that Congress passed Adams's radical talks, the Virginia Convention set the stage for the official declaration of the Congress of Independence. On May 15, the Convention instructed the congressional delegation of Virginia "to propose to the honorable body to declare a free and independent United States Colony, exempt from all loyalty to, or dependence on, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain". In accordance with the instructions, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a three-part resolution to Congress on 7 June. The motion was seconded by John Adams, calling on Congress to declare independence, form foreign alliances, and prepare a colonial confederation plan. Part of the resolution relating to declaring independence read:
It was resolved that this British Colony, and the right should be, an independent and independent State, that they were freed from all loyalty to the British Empire, and that all political relations between them and the British State were, and should be, completely dissolved.
Lee's resolution met with resistance in the ensuing debate. Opponents of the resolution recognize that reconciliation is not possible with the United Kingdom, while declaring that declaring independence is too early, and that securing foreign aid should be a priority. Proponents of the resolution argue that foreign governments will not interfere in Britain's internal struggle, and thus an official declaration of independence is needed before any foreign assistance is possible. All Congress needs to do, they insist, is to "state the facts that already exist". Delegates from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York are still not authorized to vote for independence, however, and some of them threaten to leave Congress if the resolution is adopted. Congress, therefore, voted on June 10 to delay further discussions on Lee's resolution for three weeks. Until then, Congress ruled that the committee should prepare a document announcing and clarifying its independence in the event that Lee's resolution was approved when resurrected in July.
Last push
Support for Congress independence declaration was consolidated in the last weeks of June 1776. On 14 June, the Connecticut Assembly instructed its delegates to propose independence and, the next day, the New Hampshire and Delaware legislators allowed their delegates to declare independence. In Pennsylvania, the political struggle ended with the dissolution of the colonial assembly, and the Conference of new committees under Thomas McKean authorized the Pennsylvania delegation to declare independence on June 18. The Provincial Congress of New Jersey has ruled the province since January 1776; they decided on June 15 that the Governor of the Kingdom of William Franklin was "the enemy of the freedom of this country" and had him arrested. On June 21, they elected a new delegation to Congress and empowered them to join the declaration of independence.
Only Maryland and New York have not authorized independence by the end of June. Previously, the Maryland delegation had come out when the Continental Congress adopted a radical adamble on May 15, and was sent to the Annapolis Convention for instruction. On May 20, the Annapolis Convention rejected the opening of Adams, instructing its delegates to remain opposed to independence. But Samuel Chase went to Maryland and, thanks to a local resolution that supported independence, could make the Annapolis Convention change his mind on 28 June. Only New York delegates can not get revised directions. When Congress has considered the resolution of independence on June 8, the New York Provincial Congress told the delegates to wait. But on June 30, the Provincial Congress evacuated New York as British troops approached, and would not convene again until July 10. This means that New York delegates will not be authorized to declare independence until after Congress makes a decision.
Draft and adoption
Political maneuvers are setting the stage for official declaration of independence even when a document is being written to explain the decision. On June 11, 1776, the Congress appointed the "Committee of Five" to draw up a declaration, consisting of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. The committee does not leave minutes, so there is uncertainty about how the drafting process works; Contradictory accounts were written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, too many years to be considered fully reliable - even though their accounts are often quoted. What is certain is that the committee discusses the general outlines that the document must follow and decides that Jefferson will write the first draft. The committee in general, and Jefferson in particular, thought that Adams should write documents, but Adams persuaded the committee to choose Jefferson and promised to consult him personally. Considering the busy schedule of the Congress, Jefferson may have limited time to write for the next seventeen days, and the possibility of writing the draft quickly. He then consults with others and makes some changes, and then generates another copy that incorporates these changes. The committee presented this copy to Congress on 28 June 1776. The title of the document was "A Declaration by a United States Representative, in an assembled General Congress."
Congress ordered that the draft "lay on the table". For two days, Congress methodically edited Jefferson's main document, shortened it with the fourth, deleted unnecessary words, and improved sentence structure. They abolished Jefferson's assertion that Britain had imposed slavery on the colonies to moderate the documents and appease the people in Britain who supported the Revolution. Jefferson writes that Congress has "disrupted" its draft version, but the ultimately generated Declaration is "a magnificent document that inspires contemporaries and descendants," in the words of biographer John Ferling.
Congress filed a draft declaration on Monday, July 1, and decided itself to be the entire committee, with Benjamin Harrison of Virginia leading, and they continued the debate about Lee's independence resolution. John Dickinson made one last attempt to delay the decision, arguing that Congress should not declare independence without first securing foreign alliances and finalizing the Confederate Article. John Adams gave a reply to Dickinson, reiterating the case for an immediate declaration.
Voting is done after a long speech, each colony gives one vote, as usual. The delegates for each colony numbered two to seven members, and each delegate voted amongst themselves to determine the votes of the colony. Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against declaring independence. The New York delegation abstained, having no permission to vote for independence. Delaware did not vote because the delegate was divided between Thomas McKean (who voted yes) and George Read (who voted not). Nine other delegates voted in favor of independence, which meant that the resolution had been approved by the committee of the whole. The next step is a resolution that will be chosen by Congress itself. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina opposed Lee's resolution but wanted a unanimity, and he moved that the ballot was postponed until the next day.
On July 2, South Carolina reversed its position and voted for independence. In the Pennsylvania delegation, Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained, allowing the delegation to vote three to two in favor of independence. The bond in Delaware delegation was damaged by the timely arrival of Caesar Rodney, who voted for independence. The New York delegation abstained once again because they were still not authorized to vote for independence, although they were allowed to do so a week later by the New York Provincial Congress. The resolution of independence has been adopted with twelve affirmative voices and one abstention. With this, the colonies have officially severed political ties with Great Britain.
John Adams predicted in a famous letter, written for his wife the next day, that July 2 would be a major American holiday. He thought that the vote for independence would be commemorated; he did not expect that Americans - including himself - would celebrate Independence Day on the date when the announcement of the action was resolved.
"I am inclined to believe that [Independence Day] will be celebrated, by the Successful Generation, as a great Birthday Festival, it should be remembered, as the Day of Deliverance with acts of devotion to Almighty God.It must be admired with Pomp and Parade , with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of the Continent to the other from this Time, and so on forever. "
After choosing to support the resolution of independence, Congress turned its attention to the draft declaration committee. Over the course of several days of debate, they made several change of words and removed nearly a quarter of the text and, on July 4, 1776, the words Declaration of Independence were approved and sent to printers for publication.
There are different changes in the wording of the original wide printed print of the Declaration and the final copy of the inserted past. The word "round" was included as a result of the congressional resolution passed on 19 July 1776:
Resolved, That Declaration was adopted on the 4th, quite preoccupied on the parchment, with titles and stones "A unanimous statement of thirteen United States," and that same thing, when engrossed, signed by every member of Congress.
Historian George Billias says:
- Independence represents a new status of interdependence: The United States is now a sovereign state entitled to the privileges and responsibilities that come with that status. America then became a member of the international community, which meant being a covenant maker and alliance, military allies in diplomacy, and partners in foreign trade on a more equal footing.
Text annotated from an engaging declaration
This declaration is not divided into formal parts; but is often discussed as being composed of five parts: introduction , introduction , indictment from King George III, complaint of person the English, and the conclusion .
The effect and legal status
Historians often try to identify the sources that most influence the words and political philosophies of the Declaration of Independence. With Jefferson's own recognition, the Declaration does not contain original ideas, but instead is a sentiment statement widely shared by American Revolutionary supporters. As he explains in 1825:
Not leading to the originality of principles or sentiments, nor copied from certain and previous writings, it is meant to be an expression of the American mind, and to give that expression the exact tone and spirit demanded on the occasion.
Jefferson's quickest source is two documents written in June 1776: the design itself from the opening of the Virginia Constitution, and the design of George Mason on the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The ideas and phrases of these two documents appear in the Declaration of Independence. They were, in turn, directly influenced by the 1689 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which officially ended the reign of King James II. During the American Revolution, Jefferson and other Americans saw the Declaration of the Rights of the United Kingdom as a model of how to end an unjust ruler's rule. The Scottish Declaration of Arbroath (1320) and the Dutch Act of Abjuration (1581) have also been offered as models for the Jefferson Declaration, but this model is now accepted by some scholars.
Jefferson writes that some authors have had a general effect on the words of the Declaration. The British political expert, John Locke, is usually cited as one of the main influences, a man Jefferson calls one of the "three greatest men who ever lived". In 1922, historian Carl L. Becker wrote, "Most Americans have absorbed Locke's works as a kind of political gospel, and the Declaration, in its form, in its phraseology, follows certain sentences closely in Locke's second treatise on government. " The extent of Locke's influence on the American Revolution has been questioned by the next few scholars. Historian Ray Forrest Harvey argued in 1937 for the dominant influence of Swiss jurist Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, arguing that Jefferson and Locke were in "the two opposite poles" in their political philosophy, as evidenced by Jefferson's use in the Declaration of Independence the phrase "the pursuit of happiness" not "owned". Other scholars emphasize the influence of republicanism over Locke's classical liberalism. Historian Garry Wills argues that Jefferson was influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, especially Francis Hutcheson, rather than Locke, an interpretation that has been harshly criticized.
The legal historian John Phillip Reid has written that the emphasis on the political philosophy of the Declaration has been misplaced. The declaration was not a philosophical tract on natural rights, Reid said, but instead was a legal document - an indictment against King George for violating the constitutional rights of the colonists. Historian David Armitage argues that the Declaration was profoundly influenced by De Vattel's The Law of Nations, the dominant international legal treatise of the period, and a book that Benjamin Franklin said was "kept in the hands of our Congressmen". Armitage writes, "Vattel made a fundamental independence for the definition of his state"; therefore, the main purpose of the Declaration is "to express the sovereignty of international law from the United States". If the United States had any hope of being recognized by European powers, American revolutionaries must first explain that they are no longer dependent on Britain. The Declaration of Independence has no legal force within the country, but it can still help to clarify the history and laws of the Constitution and other laws.
Signed
The declaration became official when Congress voted on July 4; the signatures of the delegates are not required to make it official. A copy of the Handwritten Declaration of Independence signed by Congress dated July 4, 1776. The signature of fifty-six delegates was affixed; However, the exact date when everyone signs it has long been a matter of debate. Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams all wrote that the Declaration was signed by Congress on 4 July. But in 1796, signatory Thomas McKean denied that the Declaration was signed on July 4, indicating that some of the signers did not exist, including some who were not even elected to Congress until after that date.
The declaration was diverted on paper, adopted by the Continental Congress, and signed by John Hancock, President of Congress, on July 4, 1776, according to a record of 1911 events by the US State Department under Secretary Philander C. Knox. On August 2, 1776, a copy of Parchment Declaration paper was signed by 56 people. Many of these signatories were absent when the original Declaration was adopted on 4 July. Mark Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire sits at the Continental Congress in November; he requested and received the privilege of adding his signature at the time, and signed on 4 November 1776.
Historians generally accept McKean's version of events, arguing that the famous signed Declaration version was made after July 19, and was not signed by Congress until 2 August 1776. In 1986, legal historian Wilfred Ritz argued that historians have misunderstood documents and given too much confidence to McKean, who was not present at the Congress on July 4. According to the Ritz, about thirty-four delegates signed the Declaration on July 4, and others signed on or after 2 August. Historians who rejected July 4 signing maintained that most of the delegates signed on August 2, and that those who were ultimately undersigned signers added their names later.
Two future US presidents are among the signatories: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The most famous signature on a great copy is John Hancock's, who is likely to enter first as President of Congress. Hancock's big, flamboyant icons became icons, and the term John Hancock appeared in the United States as an informal synonym for "signature". An outstanding but apocryphal report claimed that, after Hancock signed, a delegation from Massachusetts commented, "The British Ministry can read the name without glasses." Another apocryphal report shows that Hancock proudly states, "There! I think King George will be able to read that!"
Various legends emerged several years later on the signing of the Declaration, when the document became an important national symbol. In one famous story, John Hancock is said to have said that Congress, after signing the Declaration, must now "all unite", and Benjamin Franklin replied: "Yes, we must indeed gather together, or most definitely we will all depend separately." The quote did not appear in print until more than fifty years after Franklin's death.
The Syng Inkstand used on signing was also used at the signing of the United States Constitution in 1787.
Publications and reactions
After Congress approved the last words of the Declaration on July 4, a handwritten copy was sent several blocks away to John Dunlap's press. Throughout the night, Dunlap scored about 200 broads for distribution. Soon, it was being read for audiences and reprinted in newspapers in all 13 states. The first formal public reading of the document took place on July 8, in Philadelphia (by John Nixon at the Independence House yard), Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania; the first newspaper to publish it was the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6th. The German translation of the Declaration was published in Philadelphia on July 9.
President Congressman John Hancock sent a flyer to General George Washington, instructing him to proclaim "to the Army Chief in the way you think is most appropriate". Washington has a Declaration read to its troops in New York City on July 9, with thousands of British troops on ships at the harbor. Washington and Congress hope that the Declaration will inspire the soldiers, and encourage others to join the army. Upon hearing the Declaration, the masses in many cities tore down and destroyed the signs or statues representing the royal authority. The statue of King George's riding in New York City is pulled down and the tip is used to make a rifle ball.
British officials in North America send copies of the Declaration to the United Kingdom. It was published in British newspapers beginning in mid-August, it had reached Florence and Warsaw in mid-September, and the German translation appeared in Switzerland in October. The first copy of the Declaration sent to France was lost, and a second copy arrived only in November 1776. It reached Portuguese America by a Brazilian medical student "Vendek" JosÃÆ'Â © Joaquim Maia e Barbalho, who had met Thomas Jefferson at NÃÆ'®mes.
The Spanish-American authorities prohibited the circulation of the Declaration, but it was widely transmitted and translated: by Manuel GarcÃÆ'a de Sena of Venezuela, by Miguel de Pombo of Colombia, by Vicente Rocafuerte of Ecuador, and by New England Richard Cleveland and William Shaler, who distributed United States Declaration and Constitution between Creole in Chile and India in Mexico in 1821. The North Ministry did not provide an official answer to the Declaration, but instead secretly commissioned John Lind's pamphlet to publish a response entitled Answers to the Declaration of the American Congress . The British Tories denounced the signatories of the Declaration for not applying the same principle of "life, freedom, and pursuit of happiness" to African Americans. Thomas Hutchinson, former Massachusetts royal governor, also issued a rebuttal. These pamphlets challenge the various aspects of the Declaration. Hutchinson argues that the American Revolution is the work of some conspirators who wanted independence from the start, and who eventually achieved it by encouraging faithful colonies to rebel. Lind Pamphlet has an anonymous attack on the concept of natural rights written by Jeremy Bentham, an argument he repeated during the French Revolution. Both pamphlets ask how the owners of American slaves in Congress can declare that "all human beings are created equal" without liberating their own slaves.
William Whipple, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence who had fought in the war, freed his slave Prince Whipple for his revolutionary ideals. In the postwar decade, other slave-owners also freed their slaves; from 1790 to 1810, the percentage of free blacks in Upper South increased to 8.3 percent from less than one percent of the black population. All the Northern states abolished slavery in 1804.
Document history
An official copy of the Declaration of Independence was printed on July 4, 1776, under the supervision of Jefferson. It was sent to the state and to the Army and reprinted widely in the newspapers. A slightly different "exciting copy" (shown at the top of this article) is then made for members to sign. The fun version is widely distributed in the 21st century. Note that the opening line differs between the two versions.
A copy of the Declaration signed by Congress is known as a copy of romance or parchment. It might be fun (ie, handwritten) by scribe Timothy Matlack. A facsimile made in 1823 has been the basis for much of modern reproduction rather than the original because of the poor conservation of the captivated copies until the nineteenth century. In 1921, the copyright custody copy of the Declaration was transferred from the State Department to the Library of Congress, together with the United States Constitution. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the documents were moved to be stored at the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky, where they were kept until 1944. In 1952, the Declaration was moved to the National Archives and now on the permanent screen at the National Archives at "Rotunda for Charters of Freedom".
Documents signed by Congress and enshrined in the National Archives are usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, but historian Julian P. Boyd argues that the Declaration, like Magna Carta, is not a single document. Boyd considers the printed broads that are ordered by Congress to be the official text, as well. The declaration was first published as a flyer printed on the night of July 4 by John Dunlap of Philadelphia. Dunlap scored about 200 broadsides, 26 of which are known to survive. The 26th copy was found at The National Archives in the UK in 2009.
In 1777, Congress commissioned Mary Katherine Goddard to print a new leaflet which included the signatories of the Declaration, unlike the Dunlap flyers. Nine copies of the Goddard flyer are known to exist. Various broadsides that are printed by the state are still there.
Several copies of early handwriting and draft Declarations have also been preserved. Jefferson keeps a four-page draft that at the end of his life he calls the "original draft Rough". It is not known how many drafts Jefferson wrote before, and how much text was contributed by other committee members. In 1947, Boyd discovered a fragment of the initial design in Jefferson's handwriting. Jefferson and Adams sent copies of rough drafts to friends, with little variation.
During the writing process, Jefferson showed a rough draft for Adams and Franklin, and perhaps to other members of the designer's committee, which made some more changes. Franklin, for example, may be responsible for altering Jefferson's original phrase "We regard this truth as sacred and indisputable" to "We hold this truth to be real". Jefferson incorporated these changes into copies submitted to Congress on behalf of the committee. Copies submitted to Congress on 28 June have disappeared and may have been destroyed in the printing process, or destroyed during the debate in accordance with the rules of secrecy of Congress.
On April 21, 2017, it was announced that a second asynchronous copy had been found in the archive in Sussex, England. Named by the discoverer of the "Sussex Declaration", it differs from a copy of the National Archives (which the searchers call the "Matlack Declaration") that the signature on it is not grouped by the State. How it happened in Britain is unknown, but the searchers believe that the signature randomness points to origin with the signatories of James Wilson, who have strongly stated that the Declaration was made not by Americans but by all men.
Legacy
The declaration was given little attention in the years immediately following the American Revolution, having served its original purpose in declaring the independence of the United States. The early celebrations of Independence Day largely ignored the Declaration, as did the early history of the Revolution. The act declares independence important, while the text announces it attracts little attention. The declaration was rarely mentioned during the debate on the Constitution of the United States, and its language was not included in the document. Virginia Mason's Declaration of Human Rights draft is more influential, and the language resonates in the country's constitution and the state right bill more often than Jefferson's words. "None of these documents", writes Pauline Maier, "is there any evidence that the Declaration of Independence lives in the human mind as a classic statement of American political principles."
Influence in other country
Many leaders of the French Revolution admire the Declaration of Independence but are also interested in the new American constitution. The inspiration and content of the French Declaration on Human and Population Rights (1789) emerged largely from the ideals of the American Revolution. The main concept is prepared by Lafayette, working closely in Paris with his friend Thomas Jefferson. It also borrows the language of the Virginia George Mason Declaration. The declaration also affected the Russian Empire. The document had a special impact on the Desembrist uprising and other Russian thinkers.
According to historian David Armitage, the Declaration of Independence has indeed proven to be influential internationally, but not as a statement of human rights. Armitage argues that the Declaration is the first in a new genre of declaration of independence that announces the formation of new states.
Other French leaders are directly influenced by the text of the Declaration of Independence itself. The Manifesto of Flanders Province (1790) is the first foreign derivation of the Declaration; others include the Declaration of Independence of Venezuela (1811), Liberian Declaration of Independence (1847), declaration of secession by the American Confederation (1860-61), and Proclamation of Independence of Vietnam (1945). This Declaration echoes the Declaration of Independence of the United States in declaring the independence of a new state, without having to support the original political philosophy.
Other countries have used the Declaration as inspiration or have copied portions of it directly. This included the declaration of Haiti January 1, 1804, during the Haitian Revolution, New Province of Granada Province in 1811, the Declaration of Independence of Argentina in 1816, the Declaration of Independence of Chile in 1818, Costa Rica in 1821, El Salvador in 1821, Guatemala in 1821 , Honduras in 1821, Peru in 1821, War of Independence of Bolivia in 1825, Uruguay in 1825, Ecuador in 1830, Colombia in 1831, Paraguay in 1842, Dominican Republic in 1844, Declaration of Independence of Texas on March 1836, the Republic of California in November 1836, the Declaration of Independence of Hungary in 1849, the Declaration of New Zealand's Independence in 1835, and the declaration of Czechoslovakia's independence from 1918 drawn up in Washington DC with Gutzon Borglum among the designers. The Rhodesian Declaration of Independence, ratified in November 1965, is also based on America; However, it eliminates the phrase "all men are created equal" and "consent of the governed". The South Carolina separation declaration of December 1860 also mentions the US Declaration of Independence, though, like the Rhodesian, omits references to "all men are created equal" and "consent of the governed."
Rise of interest
Interest in the Declaration was revived in the 1790s with the appearance of the first political party in the United States. Throughout the 1780s, few Americans knew or cared who wrote the Declaration. But within the next decade, the Jeffersonian Republicans sought political gain over their rivals, the Federalist, by promoting the importance of the Declaration and Jefferson as its author. The Federalist responded by casting doubt on the author or originality of Jefferson, and by emphasizing that independence was declared by the entire Congress, with Jefferson only as one of the members of the stretching committee. The Federalists insist that the action of Congress declare independence, in which Federalist John Adams has played a major role, more important than the document that announced it. But this view faded, like the Federalist Party itself, and, shortly, the act of declaring independence became synonymous with the document.
The less partisan appreciation of the Declaration came in the years after the War of 1812, thanks to growing American nationalism and renewed interest in the history of the Revolution. In 1817, Congress commissioned John Trumbull's famous painting of signers, who were exhibited to many before being installed on the Capitol. The earliest warning prints of the Declaration also appear at this time, offering many Americans their first view of signed documents. The collective biography of the signatories was first published in the 1820s, giving birth to what Garry Wills calls "the cult of signatories." In subsequent years, many stories about the writing and signing of documents were published for the first time.
When interest in the Declaration was revived, the most important parts of 1776 were no longer relevant: the announcement of US independence and complaints against King George. But the second paragraph applies long after the war, with its talk of self-evident truth and inalienable rights. The Constitution and the Bill on Human Rights do not have broad statements about rights and equality, and supporters of groups with complaints turn to the Declaration for support. Beginning in the 1820s, variations in the Declaration were issued to proclaim the rights of workers, peasants, women, and others. In 1848, for example, the Seneca Convention of women's rights advocates stated that "all men and women are created equal".
(1817-1826)
The John Trumbull painting Declaration of Independence has played an important role in the popular conception of the Declaration of Independence. This painting measures 12-times-18-feet (3.7 x 5.5 m) and was commissioned by the United States Congress in 1817; it has been hanging in the United States Capitol Rotunda since 1826. It is sometimes described as signing the Declaration of Independence, but it actually shows the Committee of Five that presents their Declaration draft to the Second Continental Congress on 28 June 1776, and not the signing of the document, which ensues.
Trumbull painted the numbers from life as much as possible, but some were dead and images could not be found; therefore, the painting does not include all signatories of the Declaration. One of the leaders has participated in the drafting but did not sign the final document; others refused to sign. In fact, the membership of the Second Continental Congress changed as time passed, and the characters in the painting were never in the same room at the same time. Nevertheless, an accurate depiction of the room at Independence Hall, the center of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Trumbull's paintings have been depicted several times in US currency and stamps. His first use was on the reverse side of the National Banknote 100 $ issued in 1863. A few years later, the steel carvings used for printing paper money were used to produce a 24-cent stamp, published as part of the Pictorial Edition 1869. Signing carvings have been featured on the back side of the two-dollar bill of the United States since 1976.
Slavery and Declaration
The apparent contradiction between the claim that "all human beings are created equal" and the existence of American slavery drew comments when the Declaration was first published. As mentioned above, Jefferson has included a paragraph in his initial draft that strongly demands the role of Great Britain in the slave trade, but this is removed from the final version. Jefferson himself is a leading Virginia slave holder, has hundreds of slaves. Referring to this seemingly innocent contradiction, the English abolitionist Thomas Day wrote in the 1776 letter, "If there is an absolutely ridiculous object in nature, it is an American patriot, signing a resolution of self-reliance with one hand, and with another brandishing a whip over his frightened slave. "
In the nineteenth century, the Declaration took on a special meaning for the abolitionist movement. Historian Bertram Wyatt-Brown writes that "abolitionists tend to interpret the Declaration of Independence as a theological and political document". Abolitionist leaders Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison adopted the "twin stones" of the "Bible and Declaration of Independence" as the basis for their philosophy. "As long as there is a copy of the Declaration of Independence, or the Bible, on our land," Garrison writes, "we will not despair." For a radical abolitionist like Garrison, the most important part of the Declaration is his affirmation of the right of revolution. Garrison called for the destruction of the government under the Constitution, and the establishment of a new state dedicated to the principles of the Declaration.
The controversial question of whether to add additional slave states to the United States coincides with the growing Declaration of growth. The first major public debate on slavery and the Declaration occurred during the Missouri controversy of 1819 to 1821. Members of the Anti-Raid Congress argued that the language of the Declaration showed that the Founding Fathers of the United States had opposed slavery in principle, and so new slave states should not be added to the state. The advanced congressman led by Senator Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina argues that the Declaration is not part of the Constitution and therefore has no relevance to the question.
With the antislavery movement gaining momentum, slavery advocates like John Randolph and John C. Calhoun argue it is necessary to state that the Declaration's statement that "all human beings are created equal" is wrong, or at least that does not apply to blacks.. During the debate over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1853, for example, Senator John Pettit of Indiana argued that the statement "all men are created equal" is not "self-evident truth" but "self-evident lie". Opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, including Salmon P. Chase and Benjamin Wade, defend the Declaration and what they see as the antislavery principle.
Lincoln > Lincoln and Declaration
The Declaration relationship with slavery was taken in 1854 by Abraham Lincoln, a little-known former congressman who idolized the Founding Fathers. Lincoln thought that the Declaration of Independence declared the supreme principle of the American Revolution, and that the Founders had tolerated slavery in the hope that it would eventually wither. In order for the United States to legitimize the expansion of slavery in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln thought, was to reject the principles of the Revolution. In Peoria's October 1854 speech, Lincoln said:
Almost eighty years ago we began by stating that all human beings are created equal; but from now on we have run to another declaration, that for some to enslave others is the "sacred right of self-government".... our republican cloak is dirty and trailing in dust.... we bring it back up. Let us again adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, practice, and policy, in harmony with it.... If we do this, we not only save Unity: but we will save it, as to make, and keep it, forever worth keeping.
The significance of the Declaration was a recurring topic in the famous debate between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858. Douglas argues that the phrase "all men are created equal" in the Declaration refers to the whites only. The purpose of the Declaration, he said, was solely to justify the independence of the United States, and not to proclaim the equivalence of "inferior race or degradation". Lincoln, however, thinks that the language of the Declaration is deliberately universal, establishes the high moral standards that the American republic should seek. "I think the Declaration reflects on progressive improvements in the condition of all people everywhere," he said. During the seventh and final joint debate with Steven Douglas in Alton, Illinois on October 15, 1858, Lincoln said of the declaration:
I think the authors of the essential instrument were meant to cover all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They do not mean to say everyone has something in common with color, size, intelligence, moral development, or social capacity. They define with a tolerable difference in what they perceive as everyone is created equally in "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness." This is what they say, and this is what they mean. They do not intend to affirm the obvious untruth that everyone at that moment actually enjoys that equality, or that they will soon give it to them. In fact, they have no power to give such a gift. They mean simply declare the right, so its enforcement may follow as soon as circumstances should be possible. They intend to set a standard proverb for a free society that should be familiar to all people, constantly seen, constantly cultivated, and even, though never accomplished completely, are constantly approached, and thus constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and adding to the happiness and value of life for everyone, of all colors, everywhere.
According to Pauline Maier, Douglas's interpretation is more historically accurate, but Lincoln's view has finally prevailed. "In Lincoln's hands," wrote Maier, "The Declaration of Independence became first and foremost a living document" with "a set of goals that must be realized from time to time".
Like Daniel Webster, James Wilson and Joseph Story before him, Lincoln argues that the Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the United States, and that it has important implications for interpreting the Constitution, which has been ratified more than a decade after the Statement. The Constitution does not use the word "equality", but Lincoln believes that the concept that "all men are created equal" remains part of the founding principles of the nation. He famously expressed this belief in the opening sentence of his 1863 Getty Address: "Four and seven years ago [ie in 1776] our father gave birth to this continent, a new state, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created same. "
Lincoln's view of the Declaration became influential, seeing it as a moral guide to interpreting the Constitution. "For most people now," Garry Wills wrote in 1992, "the Declaration means what Lincoln told us means, as a way of correcting the Constitution itself without overthrowing it." Lincoln admirers like Harry V. Jaffa praised this development. Lincoln's criticism, especially Willmoore Kendall and Mel Bradford, argues that Lincoln is dangerously expanding the scope of national government and violating the rights of the state by reading the Declaration into the Constitution.
Women's right and Declaration
In July 1848, the first women's rights convention, the Seneca Falls Convention, was held at Seneca Falls, New York. The convention was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt. In their "Declaration of Sentiments", which was repudiated in the Declaration of Independence, members of the convention demanded social and political equality for women. Their motto is that "All men and women are created equal" and the convention demands the right to vote for women. The voting movement is supported by William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.
The 20th and later centenaries
The declaration was chosen to be the first digital text (1971).
Warning to the 56 Flagmarks of the Declaration of Independence was devoted to 1984 at Constitution Gardens at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where the signatures of all original signers were carved into stone by their name, residence, and occupation.
The new One World Trade Center building in New York City (2014) is 1776 feet tall to symbolize the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Popular culture
The adoption of the Declaration of Independence was dramatized in the 1969 Award-winning musical 1776 and the 1972 film version, as well as in the television miniseries of 2008 John Adams .
In 1970, the fifth dimension noted the opening of the Declaration, through the phrase "for their future Security". This is the only known musical arrangement of any part of the Declaration, which is not sung in 1776 . The name of the song is "Declaration," and it was performed on the Ed Sullivan Show on December 7, 1969. At that time, it was taken as a protest song against the Vietnam War.
References
Bibliography
External links
- "Declare Cause: The Declaration of Independence" lesson plan for grades 9-12 of the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Declaration of Independence in the National Archives
- Declaration of Independence at the Library of Congress
- "Artistic Artistic of the Declaration of Independence" by Stephen E. Lucas
- Short film released in 2002 with the actor reading the Declaration, with an introduction by Morgan Freeman
- Mobile-Friendly Declaration of Independence
- Various editions of the Declaration of Independence on the Online Book Page
- Loyal response to the Declaration of Independence
- Strictly in the Declaration of Congress in Philadelphia (London 1776), Thomas Hutchinson's reaction to the Declaration
- The Declaration of Independence The loyalists were published in The Royal Gazette, (New York) on November 17, 1781 (Transcription was given by Bruce Wallace and posted at The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies.)
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