Independence Day

We tend to forget what a momentous step the founders took in declaring their independence from Great Britain.  For one thing, it was an act of treason, punishable by hanging. 

The document is of two main parts.  The first and most familiar is the stirring declaration of principles – universal principles – that motivated the delegates to take this bold step.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident”, “life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness” , and perhaps most important, that governments derive their powers “from the consent of the governed”.

The list of grievances that are contained in the second part of the Declaration read almost like a legal brief, a justification to the world for declaring a break with the King and Parliament. 

John Hancock, the first signer in his bold hand, declared he wanted to be sure the king would have no trouble reading his signature; an act of outright defiance.  Hancock was the richest man in Massachusetts and had a lot to lose.  In fact, of the 56 signers of the document, more than half lost their lives, family members or property by the end of the Revolutionary War.

The Declaration of Independence borrowed from the English Bill of Rights, John Locke's Second Treatise on Government and other key political documents.  But in one sense it is an entirely original creation in that its practical purpose was to create a nation.  It is one thing to write treatises and essays to present new ideas – important enough – but quite another to apply those principles to the founding of a continental nation.

When you visit the National Archives in Washington DC, you may gaze upon one of the original signed Declaration documents.  Several were made.  After it was returned by Nicholas Cage, it was installed next to the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  These form the set of principles and political guidance for our nation.  

Read it on the 4^th.  You’ll be inspired, too.