Travel Back In Time With Me

Chapter-17

Then I went to look at the Declaration of Independence, in the history of the U.S., a document approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which proclaimed the separation of the 13 British colonies of North America in Great Britain. It explained why Congress on July 2 "unanimously" with the votes of the 12 colonies (and New York did not agree) decided that "these are the United Colony, and have the right to be a free and independent State." Accordingly, the date on which the last official vote was divided was July 2, although the 4th day, the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted, was often celebrated in the United States as a national holiday - July 4, or Independence Day.

On April 19, 1775, when the Battle of Lexington and Concord launched a war between Britain and 13 colonies (the future of the United States), the Americans claimed that they wanted only their rights under the British Empire. At that time few colonialists wanted to break away from Britain. As the American Revolution progressed between 1775-76 and Britain began to consolidate its sovereignty with large armed forces, performing the act of reconciliation, the majority of Americans began to believe that they should defend their rights outside the empire. The losses and limitations that resulted from the war greatly increased the tensions between the colonies and the motherland; moreover, it was necessary to prove independence to protect French aid as much as possible.

On April 12, 1776, a revolutionary conference in North Carolina directly authorized its delegates to the Congress to vote for independence. On May 15 the Virginia congress ordered its deputies to make the proposal— "that these American Colonies, and should, should be, independent and independent" — submitted by Congress by Richard Henry Lee on June 7. John Adams of Massachusetts endorsed the proposal. By then Congress had already taken long steps to sever ties with Britain. It denied the sovereignty of Parliament over the colonies on December 6, 1775, and on May 10, 1776, advised the colonies to form their own governments and said that it "does not agree with the good conscience of the colonists now to take the oaths and agreements necessary to support any government under the Great Britain crown." "completely suppressed" and taken over by the people - determination, as Adams said, certainly involved the struggle for total freedom.

Lee's appeal was delayed for a number of reasons. Some of the delegates had not yet received permission to vote separately; a few were opposed to taking the last step; and several men, among them John Dickinson, believe that the formation of a central government, as well as efforts to obtain foreign aid, should precede it. However, a committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston was immediately elected on June 11 to prepare a statement authorizing the decision to seek independence, should it be taken. The document was drafted, and on July 1 nine delegates voted to split, despite a heated debate with Dickinson. The next day at Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, where the New York delegation was leaving because they did not have permission to do so, Lee's vote was voted on and approved. (The New York Convention approved July 9, and New York delegates voted on July 15.) On July 19, Congress ordered that the document be immersed in the "Thirteenth Amusified American Declaration." Appropriately applied to the skin, perhaps by Timothy Matlack of Philadelphia. Members of Congress present on August 2 attached their signatures to the leather copy that day and others later.

The signatories were as follows: John Hancock (president), Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts; Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton of Georgia; William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn of North Carolina; Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., and Arthur Middleton of South Carolina; Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, and Charles Carroll of Maryland; George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Carter Braxton of Virginia; Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, and George Ross of Pennsylvania; Chess Rodney and George Read of Delaware; William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, and Lewis Morris of New York; Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, and Abraham Clark of New Jersey; Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, and Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire; Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery of Rhode Island; and Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut. The last signator was Thomas McKean of Delaware, whose name was not included in the document before 1777.

Then comes Nature and the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was largely written by Jefferson, who had demonstrated talent as a philosopher and jurist in A Summary View of the Rights of British America, published in 1774. At the request of his fellow committee members, he wrote the first draft. Committee members made minor doctrinal changes, and they also increased the list of cases facing the king. Congress made major changes, abolishing the British people's rejection, referring to the "Scotch & foreign mercenaries" (there were Scots in Congress), and the abolition of the African slave trade (this is an insult to some Southern and New England Ambassadors).

It can be said, as Adams did, that this proclamation contained no realistic philosophy, based on John Locke, Algernon Sidney and other English theorists. James Madison offered a different view: "The purpose was to prove, not to discover the truth," he said. It can also be said that the argument presented was historically and intellectually flawless. Leaving the controversy over English rights, the proclamation placed the most important doctrines of environmental and governmental rights under public contract. Claiming that Parliament has never ruled over the colonies and that the crown of right has been exercised under contract only, the proclamation has disputed that George III, with the support of the "legislative" legislature, has been violating the treaty between him as American dictator. A long list of allegations was given to prove this contention. The right and duty of change was then requested.

Few now will say that the government has emerged among men as Locke and Jefferson claim, and the belief in a social contract is no longer in the realm of political scientists. It is equally true, from a British point of view, that Parliament and the crown could not be separated and that the history of the colonies after 1607 was not entirely consistent with the claim that Parliament had never had a monarchy over them. Moreover, certain charges against the king were not shared and were not equally protected, and the common allegations that he intended to commit "complete Depotism" were completely unnecessary. It should be added that several of the most serious protests condemned the British government's action taken after the outbreak of hostilities.

Disability in the Declaration of Independence is not enough to force the conclusion that this text is absurd. On the contrary, it was morally and politically correct. If the right to change is not established for historical reasons, it is strongly dependent on those who are moral. The right of the colonists to the government in the end of their choice is valid. Some of the proclamations have had a profound effect on the United States, especially the proclamation, "We hold these facts to be self-evident, that all human beings are created equal, that their Creator has given them certain rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. "While the definitions of these clauses, as well as the conclusions drawn from them, have been debated indefinitely, the proclamation has worked to justify the expansion of American political and social democracy.

The Declaration of Independence has also been a source of encouragement outside the United States. It encouraged Antonio de Nariño and Francisco de Miranda to fight to overthrow the Spanish monarchy in South America, and he was enthusiastically quoted by the marquis de Mirabeau during the French Revolution. It remains a historical milestone because it contains the first official confirmation of all the rights of the people to the government of their choice. What Locke fought for as an individual, the Americans declared him a politician. Moreover, they do well to debate the power of weapons.

Since 1952 the first leather scroll of the Declaration of Independence has been sitting in the National Archives exhibition hall in Washington, D.C.