The Spirit of '76: 'The Declaration of Independence in Historical Context'

[raykeller]

The Spirit of '76: 'The Declaration of Independence in Historical Context'
Washington Free Beacon ^ | 7-4-15 | Tara Helfman


On July 4th, 1826, a Washington newspaper published one of the most poignant
letters penned in American history. An ailing Thomas Jefferson regretfully
declined an invitation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of American
independence with the citizens of the nation's capital.

"[T]o be present with them," he wrote, "as one of the surviving signers of
an instrument pregnant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most
flattering to myself. . . [I]t adds sensibly to the sufferings of sickness,
to be deprived by it of a personal participation in the rejoicings of that
day."

In this, his final public letter, the elder statesman offered a profound
consideration of the nature and scope of the revolution he had helped to
forge. The Declaration of Independence, he explained, was "the Signal of
arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and
superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the
blessings & security of self-government." The new republic had "restore[d]
the free man to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion.
[A]ll eyes are opened, or opening," he wrote, "to the rights of man."

This global awakening was both sudden and enduring. By the time Jefferson
penned his letter, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe had already
produced twenty declarations of independence. Today more than half the
nations of the world have followed suit. Yet America's Declaration is unique
among them, and not only because it was the first of its kind.

Scholars have characterized the Declaration of Independence as a diplomatic
document, a legal brief, a political treatise, a philosophical tract, and
even as American scripture. The Supreme Court cites it as a source of law
and elected leaders appeal to it as an authoritative statement of the
nation's first principles.

What were the political, intellectual, and personal forces at work in the
era in which this revolutionary statement was produced? Readers interested
in this question are now lucky to have Barry Shain's The Declaration of
Independence in Historical Context to consult. This richly informative book
was first published by the Yale University Press in 2014 as a prohibitively
expensive hardcover volume. We may now take heart that it has now been
reissued as an affordable paperback by the Liberty Fund, a private
educational foundation that has probably done more than any press since
Gutenberg's to bring classic texts to a wide readership.

Shain assembles an impressive array of primary documents that tell the story
of America's path to independence and nationhood. The volume begins with the
Stamp Act Crisis, when the colonies first convened a united congress, and
ends with the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, when the
sovereign states constituted their first national government. Colonial
petitions, royal instructions, congressional proceedings, personal
correspondence, and addresses to foreign states and Indian nations enable
the reader to follow the colonial struggle from crisis to revolution, almost
in real time. Shain prefaces the documents with short, informative
introductions, enabling readers unfamiliar with all the key figures and
events of the Revolution to navigate their way through the sources,
including the Declaration of Independence and its drafts.

In some respects, the Declaration closely follows the pattern of earlier
English constitutional documents. Like the Petition of Right (1628) and the
English Bill of Rights (1688), the Declaration of Independence contains a
litany of the government's offenses against its own subjects. (This is not
surprising. After all, the American colonies had taken root and flourished
during the seventeenth century while England fought a succession of civil
wars, flirted with military dictatorship, executed one king, and effectively
deposed another.) But unlike these earlier bills of particulars, the
Declaration of Independence appeals neither to the King's mercy nor to
Parliament's authority for relief. Instead, it dissolves the bonds of
imperial authority altogether, asserts the freedom of the thirteen states,
and appeals "to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our
intentions[.]"

And, unlike many subsequent declarations of independence, the American
Declaration makes its framers' intentions quite clear:

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.-That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed,-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.

The Declaration of Independence thus imprints the ideals of liberty,
equality, and self-governance on the mitochondrial DNA of the young nation.
But it also assigns to future generations the task of shaping and realizing
those ideals. Jefferson was right: the Declaration of Independence was
indeed pregnant with America's future.

The notions of liberty and equality adopted by the Declaration are
imperfect, inchoate, and yet powerful enough to forge a nation and preserve
the Union. Upon visiting Independence Hall in 1861, President Lincoln
remarked that what united Americans:

.was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the
motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave
liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world,
for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the
weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment
embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this
country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of
the happiest men in the world. . . . If it cannot be saved upon that
principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved
without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be
assassinated on this spot than surrender it.

Lincoln led the nation to war over the meaning of the ideals enshrined in
the Declaration of Independence. When he was assassinated, he was laid in
state in the hall where the Declaration had been signed.

The centuries-old political and constitutional struggle over how this nation
is to define and fulfill the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of
Independence shows that this document is no dead letter. As Jefferson wrote
in the missive published on July 4, 1826 - the very day he died-the
Declaration laid bare "the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not
been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred,
ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of god. [T]hese are grounds of
hope for others. [F]or ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever
refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to
them."

For as long as Americans pay heed to Jefferson's final exhortation, the
Spirit of '76 still lives.

[F. George McDuffee]

On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 14:48:34 -0700, "raykeller"
<whiney_will_have_his_nose_in_my_ass_in_3_2_1@leftards_are_loosers.com>
wrote:

>The Spirit of '76: 'The Declaration of Independence in Historical Context'
>Washington Free Beacon ^ | 7-4-15 | Tara Helfman
>
>
>On July 4th, 1826, a Washington newspaper published one of the most poignant
>letters penned in American history. An ailing Thomas Jefferson regretfully
>declined an invitation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of American
>independence with the citizens of the nation's capital.

<snip>

Wonderful thoughts, but...

Many things must be seen to be believed.
Many more things must be believed before they can be seen.

For a community to exist there must be a common
"metanarrative" for the large majority of people. Some
metanarratives are appealing to 21st century sensebilities
and some are repulsive [National socialism -- ISIL], but the
intentional or unintentional erasure of the dominent
metanarrative and the failure to provide a replacement is
quickly fatal to the community, although the physical
buildings, individuals, etc. may continue to exist.


--
Unka' George

"Gold is the money of kings,
silver is the money of gentlemen,
barter is the money of peasants,
but debt is the money of slaves"

-Norm Franz, "Money and Wealth in the New Millenium"