Written by: Bill of Rights InstituteBy the end of this section, you will:
Show
In early 1776, war raged across the colonies. The siege of Boston had been lifted, but a larger British invasion force was preparing to attack New York. The colonies were drawing up their own constitutions and declaring their rights. It was time for the Continental Congress to confront the pressing question of independence. In mid-January, pamphleteer Thomas Paine published Common Sense, which attacked King George III as a “royal brute” and undermined the idea of hereditary monarchy. Paine argued for independence and liberty. He proclaimed that “in free countries the law ought to be king.” The forty-six-page pamphlet is reputed to have sold an incredible 150,000 copies (to a population of not quite three million), giving it an even wider audience, because people passed it around or publicly read it aloud. Common Sense excited a colonial thirst for independence. On May 15, Congress passed a resolution calling on assemblies and conventions to “adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular and America in general.” Massachusetts delegate John Adams thought drawing up republican-written constitutions was an act of “independence itself.” He added a preamble that forcefully asserted:
The same day, the Virginia Convention directed its delegates in Philadelphia to “propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the crown or parliament of Great Britain.” As fighting raged between colonists and redcoats, momentum for independence continued to build. On June 7, Virginian Richard Henry Lee rose on the floor of Congress and proposed that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” The controversial resolution sparked a contentious debate. Delegate John Dickinson, who in his essay Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania had protested British actions in the colonies, argued against the call for independence, believing the time was not yet right for separation and that violence should not be used to resolve the conflict. Other delegates, like Edward Rutledge from South Carolina and James Wilson of Pennsylvania, opposed Lee’s resolution on principle, because they had not been authorized to support it by their constituents. Congress appointed a committee of five – John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson – to draft a Declaration of Independence. The committee, in turn, assigned the task of writing the document to thirty-three-year-old Jefferson. The reason, John Adams later reflected, was “the elegance of his pen.” Jefferson was the author of several important works on natural rights and republican government, including the 1774 pamphlet, Summary View of the Rights of British North America, in which he wrote that the rights of the people were “derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” In July 1775, Jefferson had also written the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms.” Jefferson had with him a copy of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which had been printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette on June 12. That influential document asserted the rights of nature and maintained that the purpose of government was to ensure:
On the evenings of June 12 and 13, Jefferson sat in his boardinghouse and composed a draft of the Declaration of Independence. He submitted it to Adams and the committee, which made several edits, and the document was sent to Congress. This famous 1819 painting by John Trumbull shows members of the committee entrusted with drafting the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Continental Congress in 1776. Note the British flags on the wall. From the British perspective, each man who signed this document was committing treason. On July 1, while a thunderstorm raged outside, Congress held an epic debate between John Dickinson and John Adams. Dickinson opposed a hasty separation with Britain and argued for reconciliation. He warned his fellow delegates that they were about to “brave the storm in a skiff made of paper.” Adams passionately advocated for declaring independence. After nine hours of speeches that ran into the evening, four colonies still voted against Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence. With the other two members of Delaware’s delegation in disagreement, Caesar Rodney mounted a horse and rode seventy miles through the rain to break the tie, arriving the next morning to ensure the colony’s vote in favor of independence. Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained and allowed the Pennsylvania delegation’s vote for independence, despite their personal opposition. South Carolina held out until Rutledge, recognizing the importance of a unanimous declaration by the entire Congress, decided to change his vote in favor of the resolution. New York’s delegates, awaiting instructions from their legislature, abstained for several days. Nonetheless, on July 2, Congress voted to approve Lee’s resolution. John Adams exulted to his wife Abigail that Americans would celebrate the day forever as their day of independence. Congress revised the Declaration of Independence the following day and altered approximately a quarter of the text, making the final product an expression of the entire Congress. Heavily influenced by John Locke’s social contract idea in his Second Treatise of Government, the document called for a government created by the consent of the people, recognizing that rights came not from government but from “nature and nature’s God.” It proclaimed that “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.” The Declaration argued that republican government was based on a social compact in which the sovereign people voluntarily consented to govern themselves through representatives entrusted with protecting their inalienable rights. The people had the right to overthrow a government that violated their natural rights:
A list of grievances indicted the king for “repeated injuries and usurpations” of the colonists’ rights. Taken together, these offenses proved a “design to reduce them under absolute despotism.” This attempt to impose “an absolute tyranny” justified severing their connection with the British Crown and declaring independence. With a “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,” the delegates pledged to each other “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” Adopted on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read to enthusiastic crowds and members of the army. No longer colonists, Americans had laid the foundation for their republic in the universal principles of natural rights and consensual self-government. Review Questions1. Which of the following documents did the most to shift public opinion toward independence in early 1776?
2. Which of the following is the most accurate description of the process of declaring independence?
3. Which document was a national bestseller that argued for American independence and convinced many colonists to become Patriots?
4. Which of the following best explains the process of writing the Declaration of Independence?
5. Which colony was the first to call for “free and independent states?”
6. Which of the following documents did not influence Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the Declaration?
7. When the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, it
8. The Declaration of Independence did not include
Free Response Questions
AP Practice Questions
John Adams, Preamble, May 15, 1776 Refer to the excerpt provided.1. Why did John Adams tell Abigail Adams that the preamble to the May 15 Resolution was “a compleat Seperation” and “a total absolute Independence, not only of her Parliament but of her Crown”?
Refer to the excerpt provided. 2. Why did John Adams tell Abigail Adams that the preamble to the May 15 Resolution was “a compleat Seperation” and “a total absolute Independence, not only of her Parliament but of her Crown”?
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825 Refer to the excerpt provided.3. According to Thomas Jefferson, what was the purpose of the Declaration of Independence at the moment of its drafting?
Governor Thomas Hutchinson, Strictures Upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia, London, 1776 Refer to the excerpt provided.4. Which of the following is not a main assertion of Governor Hutchinson when discussing the Declaration of Independence?
5. The excerpt provided could be used by historians to support which of the following arguments?
Primary SourcesAdams, John. V. Preamble to Resolution on Independent Governments, 15 May 1776. Founders Online, National Archives. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0001-0006 Declaration of Independence. July 4, 1776. Independence Hall Association. http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/document/ Jefferson, Thomas. “Document: Letter to Henry Lee. May 8, 1825.” TeachingAmericanHistory.org. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-henry-lee/ Virginia Declaration of Rights. June 12, 1776. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. https://www.history.org/Almanack/life/politics/varights.cfm Suggested ResourcesAllen, Danielle. Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Favor of Equality. New York: Liveright, 2014. Arnn, Larry P. The Founders’ Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012. Becker, Carl. The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas. New York: Vintage, 1922. Beeman, Richard. Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776. New York: Basic, 2013. Ellis, Joseph J. Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence. New York: Knopf, 2013. Hogeland, William. Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-July 4, 1776. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Vintage, 1997. Wills, Garry. Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. Garden City: Doubleday, 1978. What is Jefferson's main purpose for writing the Declaration of Independence?Its goals were to rally the troops, win foreign allies, and to announce the creation of a new country. The introductory sentence states the Declaration's main purpose, to explain the colonists' right to revolution.
Why did Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence quizlet?In general, why was the Declaration of Independence written? The Declaration of Independence was written so the thirteen colonies could declare that they were free from Britain and an independent country.
What role did Thomas Jefferson play in the Declaration of Independence quizlet?Thomas Jefferson was chosen to lead the committee responsible for drafting a declaration of independence.
|