I know, you may think your history classes are in the past (pun absolutely intended). While it seems like every year you studied the Declaration of Independence and American Revolution, you may forget some of the actual text. When reading through the Declaration, it is obvious what the Founding Fathers’ message was: We as colonies need to break up with Great Britain. That’s right, all the things you learned about America’s revolution in history class was just one ugly, dramatic breakup. In response to usurious taxes and outright despotism our Founding Fathers penned the greatest breakup letter of all time, The Declaration of Independence.
The document opens, “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.” Doesn’t everyone wish they began their breakup speech so eloquently? Basically we introduced our issue by saying as a people we have the right to separate politically, and we are going to tell you why. By the end of reading the document you will not wonder why the separation occurred, you will know exactly why we cannot fix the bond.
Our Declaration of Independence also provides one of the most famous lines in American history: “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.” Our nation’s creators, inspired by enlightenment thinkers in Europe, knew that our citizens deserved the rights that any human being was born with. Essentially they knew what their nation deserved and were ending the political relationship that stood in the way, and building a new government to secure those rights for its citizens.
The Declaration then goes on to list nearly 27 offenses committed by the British crown onto the colonies. Among these offenses are things we know inspired our own constitution. The immunity and forced quartering of British troops, instigating domestic insurrections, abolishing colonial laws, refusing the common good in the colonies and dissolving the representation of the colonies in the British government, just to name a few. But our Founding Fathers did not just complain about the King’s actions. They also took the time to explain the numerous times they petitioned and peacefully opposed the Crown’s actions, only to be oppressed more. This section also includes the 18th century subtweet, “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” Shots fired, Founding Fathers.
In conclusion, the framers of the Declaration of Independence explained that they gathered to write the Declaration and that the Colonies, in unity, deserve to be dissolved form the British government. Our Founding Fathers described the free nation made up of sovereign colonies: the nation we live in today.
