Declaration of Independence commented - Revision history

BcatOne at 22:23, 3 April 2016

2016-04-03T22:23:46Z

Jeff at 01:15, 7 February 2015

2015-02-07T01:15:41Z

Jeff at 17:53, 9 July 2014

2014-07-09T17:53:21Z

Jeff at 16:30, 9 July 2014

2014-07-09T16:30:54Z

WikiSysop at 12:43, 27 May 2014

2014-05-27T12:43:07Z

Jeff at 19:57, 9 May 2014

2014-05-09T19:57:28Z

Jeff at 14:01, 5 May 2014

2014-05-05T14:01:40Z

Jeff at 13:58, 5 May 2014

2014-05-05T13:58:18Z

Jeff at 13:53, 5 May 2014

2014-05-05T13:53:32Z

Jeff at 20:17, 20 April 2014

2014-04-20T20:17:48Z

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Article
 |HasCategory=American Independence
-|HasAuthor=Jeff
+|HasAuthor=BcatOne
 |HasArticleDate=2014/04/20
 }}

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 :*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.
-:::It should be emphasized that declaring independence was about rights and not simply an act of throwing off authority.
+:::It should be emphasized that declaring independence was less about throwing off authority than about the fundamental equality of men and their rights.
 :::Armed conflict started as a war against the English 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.
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 <big>''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.''
 </big>
-:Two concepts are presented in this line
+:Two concepts are presented in this line. <big>This is the most important, the central thought of ''The Declaration''.</big><br>
-:#The idea of equality was fundamental.  The idea that government must be consented to is derived from the idea of equality.  No one is born to rule and no one is born to servitude.
+:#Equality is fundamental.  No one is born to rule and no one is born to servitude.<br>Therefore, government must be consented to.
-:#There is a set of unalienable rights endowed by an authority above any that can be brought by man.
+:#There is a set of unalienable rights endowed by an authority above any that can be brought by man.<br>Stated in other terms: virtue (unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) outranks authority and law.
 :These are the fundamental principles on which the differences between the colonies and England were based.
 :*These facts of equality and fundamental rights with which everyone is endowed, and which are immutable (unalienable, can not be discarded or renounced) were invoked time and again in the 13 years leading up to the Declaration.  [[pagename|insert link]]

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 </big>
 :Two concepts are presented in this line
-:#The idea of equality was fundamental.  No one is born to rule and no one is born to servitude.
+:#The idea of equality was fundamental.  The idea that government must be consented to is derived from the idea of equality.  No one is born to rule and no one is born to servitude.
 :#There is a set of unalienable rights endowed by an authority above any that can be brought by man.
 :These are the fundamental principles on which the differences between the colonies and England were based.

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 }}
 {{SectionDefault
-|HasArticleText=If you are looking for the text of the Declaration only, it is on a [[The Declaration of Independence|different page]].
+|HasArticleText=If you are looking for only the text of the Declaration only, it is on a [[The Declaration of Independence|different page]].
-There are any number of explanations available for the Declaration of Independence.  A few are noted at the bottom of this page.  CW has taken the liberty of adding a few.  You are welcome to add some of yours.
+There are any number of explanations available for the Declaration of Independence.  A few are noted at the bottom of this page.  CW (and readers) have provided some of their own on this page.
 ''Text from the Declaration is presented in italics.''
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 <big>''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.''
 </big>
-:This is the fundamental principle on which the differences between the colonies and England were based.
+:Two concepts are presented in this line
-:*This idea, this fact of fundamental rights with which everyone is endowed, and which are immutable (unalienable, can not be discarded or renounced) was invoked time and again in the 13 years leading up to the Declaration.  [[pagename|insert link]]
+:#The idea of equality was fundamental.  No one is born to rule and no one is born to servitude.
-::It is the premise on which a people's right to independence is based.
+:#There is a set of unalienable rights endowed by an authority above any that can be brought by man.
-::It is the premise underlying the right of a people to be governed only by their consent.
+:These are the fundamental principles on which the differences between the colonies and England were based.
-::Until the Declaration, they were typically referred to as the right to 'life, liberty, and property'.
+:*These facts of equality and fundamental rights with which everyone is endowed, and which are immutable (unalienable, can not be discarded or renounced) were invoked time and again in the 13 years leading up to the Declaration.  [[pagename|insert link]]
 :*This does not claim a right to happiness.  It does claim a right to pursue happiness.
@@ Line 155: / Line 158: @@
 Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
 }}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Article
 |HasCategory=American Independence
 |HasArticleText=If you are looking for the text of the Declaration only, it is on a [[The Declaration of Independence|different page]].
@@ Line 150: / Line 154: @@
 Georgia:
 Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
 }}

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 ''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.''</big>
-:There are a few things to note in the first sentence.
+:There are a few things implied in the first sentence which become more explicit in subsequent lines.
 :*People are connected to a government by political bands - not chains.  I.e., people consent to be governed. The Declaration states this explicitly in the next paragraph.
 :::Whenever that is not the case, force is involved.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 Comments are presented in normal font.
-''IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776''
+<big>''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.''
+''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.''</big>
 :There are a few things to note in the first sentence.
 :*People are connected to a government by political bands - not chains.  I.e., people consent to be governed. The Declaration states this explicitly in the next paragraph.
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 :*The more famous phrase occurs in the next line of the Declaration, but this first line foreshadows the idea of inalienable rights.  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.''
+<big>''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.''
+</big>
 :This is the fundamental principle on which the differences between the colonies and England were based.
 :*This idea, this fact of fundamental rights with which everyone is endowed, and which are immutable (unalienable, can not be discarded or renounced) was invoked time and again in the 13 years leading up to the Declaration.  [[pagename|insert link]]
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 :*This does not claim a right to happiness.  It does claim a right to pursue happiness.
-'' — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,''
+<big>'' — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,''</big>
 :*A group of people institutes a government for a single reason - to secure their fundamental rights.
 ::And therefore, governments can only obtain just powers from the consent of the governed.
@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
-''— 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.''
+<big>''— 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.''</big>
 :The tenure of a government is dependent on its good behavior.
 :*When a government goes beyond its 'just powers', the governed have the right to change it or abolish it.
@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
-''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.''
+<big>''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.''</big>
 :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 become accustomed to the burdens of abridged rights - so rights erode - sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly.