A Declaration For All Humanity!
The Declaration of Independence, what it means and why it isn't just for these united States Citizens, but all Citizens of the world.
I am not a writer by trade, though I did pretty well in my college courses for writing, I will do my best to share what I have learned through my obsessive study of the founding principles of the government called The United States with as little grammatical error as I can muster. When I was 19 and swearing to support and defend the Constitution of The United States of America, I thought I knew what I was signing up to defend; when I was 24 I realized I didn’t truly know and so I began at the beginning; or so I thought, with The Declaration of Independence. As it turns out, however, it really is not the beginning, but it is a great place to start.
The ideas that were behind the Declaration started almost 100 years before Jefferson put quill to parchment in 1774. As I discovered, John Locke was a huge influence on not only Jefferson, but everyone who signed the Declaration of Independence from the First Continental Congress, they were all well read and knew Locke’s Treatise’s Concerning Government, first published under a pen name sometime in the 1680s because he was committing worse than treason in that time, he was committing blasphemy; punishable by execution. This article is not about Locke though, so we will get to him another time.
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
The Declaration of Independence
There are some legally important things about this, first this is a Congressional document which is also signed by the First Continental Congress, making this a legal document able to be used in Court (though people are taught that is not so) and should be used because it really takes a lot of power from the government’s arguments as to why they’re trying to put you in a cage or take your money for whatever reason. Let’s dig in shall we? It is as stated a Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, which is funny because today we know it by The United States of America but the founders did not see themselves as more than a Citizen of the State they lived in, not a Citizen of an incorporated national government, so they did not capitalize United in that declaration. Next what they are saying is, during life there comes a time when you need to separate yourself from people that are no longer good for you as a person, and to assume or take up “among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…” Here they are saying, we all have separate and equal station or position according to Nature’s Law and Nature’s God, meaning we are neither master nor subject to one another. This is the influence of John Locke, as seen here
Sect. 4. TO understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man.
Second Treatise Concerning Government
They end the first paragraph effectively saying that it is out of respect for their fellow man they declare the reasons they are ending their relationship with the other. So as you can see already why The Declaration of Independence is for all humanity, in the first paragraph it is telling all of us we are equals in the eyes of Nature and Nature’s God and not subject to one another outside the recognition of the other’s equal Rights.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Opening the second paragraph they reiterate what they say should be self evident for everyone that we are all equals and our Rights are granted not by government, but by Nature and Nature’s God, to have life, freedom to live that life and pursue happiness in your own way; again within the equal Rights of your neighbors to do the same. In order to secure these Rights we institute government, and WE grant that government its Just powers by Consent. It is our Right as is declared to alter or abolish government that is wielding powers that injure the individuals Rights, or really just wielding Unjust powers against its Citizens that another Citizen clearly does not have a Right to delegate to it. Currently in 2022 I am not aware of a government that is Just and has a Right to exist per this declaration. It is our Right to create a government which will be there to help us defend our safety and happiness, giving us as individuals a hopefully peaceful option to resolve conflict when it arises. They further declare that we should not impulsively alter or abolish our government, and then they explain that they have been patient in trying to correct the injuries of the government they at the time were suffering under headed up by King George. Then they go into details of the various injuries and usurpation committed by the British Government over the States;again notice they didn’t view themselves as a nation but individual States banding together to stand up to at that time the largest standing army in the World. I won’t get into those details, but I can tell you that many of them are done today in these united States, and every other government you can think of. I will even further say that the government these men ended up going on to create has not once actually lived up to these principles laid out in this signed contract from the First Continental Congress. That fact is important considering contract law is older than the US Constitution and State Constitutions. But as you can see, the Declaration of Independence is not just for the men in 1774, but for all human beings from the beginning until the end of time.