WEEK 4 Short Response: The Declaration of Independence

The American Revolution: Examining the Declaration of Independence

One can argue the most important event in U.S. history is the American Revolution – after all, it led to the creation of the nation. We could easily look at the military aspects of this war, at the pivotal battles and the incredible and iconic people and events, as countless histories have done.
However, for this response, let’s look at what led to revolution, and how the founding document of America – the Declaration of Independence – justified it, and established many of the principles “for which we stand.”

Excerpt from the documentary The Story of Us about the Declaration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb7MI8NQLoo&t=9s

Background

In the last response, we explored the Seven Years War, which resulted in victory for the British (who gained control of most of North America) but left the Crown near bankruptcy. To pay for this expensive war, King George III and Parliament passed a series of unpopular taxes on the American colonists.
Not only were the taxes unpopular, but the revenue from those taxes went to enforcing laws like the Navigation Acts, a late 1600s law requiring that all goods going to or from the colonies must go through British controlled ports and ships (this was one way the British Crown made its money off the colonies).
The act was seldom enforced before, and many of America’s merchants (and some of its “Founding Fathers”) had built their wealth by smuggling goods into or out of the colonies in defiance of the Navigation Act. But now the British were enforcing this act, creating courts and judges appointed by King George to go after these smugglers.

After outcry, Parliament rescinded some of the taxes but passed new ones, particularly the Townsend Acts, which required many things, including forcing colonists to house British soldiers in their homes. Indeed, King George decided to keep thousands of British soldiers in certain colonies – particularly Boston and the Massachusetts colony – which angered the colonists, who felt they were under military occupation.
When Parliament passed a tax on tea in 1773, colonists raided the ships in Boston Harbor and dumped crates of tea into the sea. After this incident, King George pulled on the reigns even tighter, and British officers began putting people in jail, entering property without warrants, convicting people without a jury (all violations of common English law).
In April 1775, when British soldiers moved to confiscate gunpowder held at an armory near Concord, Massachusetts, colonial militiamen fired on the British, igniting the revolution.
More than a year later, the colonial elite, including future presidents like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, gathered with the Continental Congress to sign the formal Declaration proclaiming independence from Mother England.
Jefferson was, as a majority of the Congress, a large slaveowner, but he would in 1,400 carefully edited words establish the principles of American freedom, that “all men are created equal” and are born with “unalienable rights” granted “by their creator,” among these being “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He also laid out the many reasons – 27 in all actually – why the colonists were declaring independence.

The Assignment:

Read the Declaration of Independence – it is in the Appendix of your book and/or easily found online. It is only 1,400 words, but as it is written in formal 18th-century lingo, perhaps not the easiest read. If you’re like me, you’ll need to read it more than once.
Also see how Eric Foner explains the Declaration, pgs. 190-91
Watch these videos that explain the Declaration – the first in great detail, and the second two in a much less formal way. These clips explore what the Declaration actually was, how it was structured, and what was said within it.

From Nine Concepts About the Declaration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS-tshQ9sys

Understanding the Declaration in 5 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeuU9s1xkVQ

History Explained – the Declaration as a break-up letter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8BTq61bmuY

Next, watch the two last clips that focus on the build-up to the Revolution and some of the causes which will appear in the Declaration itself.

Crash Course in U.S. History: Tea, Taxes, and the American Revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlUiSBXQHCw&t=140s

The Cynical Historian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz1i5ncOVIs

Now, using and quoting at least once from Chapter 5 of the Eric Foner book, and quoting from three of these clips – as well as from the Declaration – explain the Declaration of Independence in 200-300 words – what does it say and do?

You can consider some of these questions:

What does it say about the “unalienable rights” of “all men” and the important concept of “consent of the governed?” Under what conditions can the people “alter or abolish” that government, according to the Declaration?
What are some of the grievances? See if you can find specific historical mentions of them in Foner or one of the clips – or look at the Background I provided with this assignment. Some of these will end up being addressed by the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution (which you will be writing about next week in the second long response).
What does the Declaration officially declare and establish in the third and last section? And if you really want a tough question to ponder, why isn’t slavery included in this founding declaration of freedom and human rights?

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