Difference between revisions of "Declaration of Independence commented"
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:::Whenever that is not the case, when people are chained to a government, force is involved. | :::Whenever that is not the case, when people are chained to a government, force is involved. | ||
:*There may come a time, in the life of a group of people, that it becomes necessary to withdraw that consent - to separate from a government to which they had formerly assented. | :*There may come a time, in the life of a group of people, that it becomes necessary to withdraw that consent - to separate from a government to which they had formerly assented. | ||
| − | :*People are entitled to a set of fundamental rights. The more famous phrase occurs in the next line of the Declaration, but this first line can be overlooked in this regard. According to Jefferson and the other signers, people are entitled to a separate and equal status among everyone else in the world. This, of course, is derived from the fact of 'unalienable rights' . . . | + | :*People are entitled to a set of fundamental rights. |
| + | :::It should be emphasized that declaring independence was about rights and not simply an act of throwing off authority. | ||
| + | :::Armed conflict started as a war against the ministerial army and not a war of independence. England's efforts to enforce acts of Parliament regulating and restricting colonial trade and levying taxes, had resulted in confrontations with the English army. The colonies wanted England to lighten up and allow them at least the level of local government they had previously enjoyed. | ||
| + | :::The idea of independence did not gain a solid foothold until Thomas Paine's pamphlet "Common Sense" was published in January 1776 - 7 months after Bunker Hill. | ||
| + | :*The more famous phrase occurs in the next line of the Declaration, but this first line can be overlooked in this regard. According to Jefferson and the other signers, people are entitled to a separate and equal status among everyone else in the world. This, of course, is derived from the fact of 'unalienable 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.'' | ''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.'' | ||
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''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.'' | ''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.'' | ||
| + | :This is an important two lines. | ||
| + | :*The acts of declaring independence and replacing an existing government is serious business. it is often easier to endure the transgressions of a misbehaving government than it is to endure the trouble of fixing it. And besides, we have become accustomed to the burdens of abridged rights. | ||
| + | :*But there comes a time when enough is enough. | ||
''— 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.'' | ''— 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.'' | ||
Revision as of 16:16, 20 April 2014
2014/04/20 User:Jeff
