Insight Into The Declaration of Independence

INSIGHT INTO THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
By Beth Piepenburg
Copyright by Beth Piepenburg, 2016. All rights reserved.

HISTORICAL
In response to the passage of the Coercive Acts, aka the
Intolerable Acts, by the British Parliament who wanted to
punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, the First
Continental Congress convened from September 5 to
October 26, 1774. A year later, the Second Continental
Congress met from May 10, 1775 to March 1, 1781.
Prompted by the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the
Congress declared war on the British. As the war effort
escalated in the following year, the need was seen to
declare our Independence from Great Britain.

HISTORICAL
Congress chose a Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of
Independence: John Adams of Massachusetts, Thomas
Jefferson of Virginia, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger
Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert Livingston of New York.
After discussing the general outline, the committee selected
Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Submitting the draft to the Committee of Five who made some
extensive changes, Jefferson produced a second draft
incorporating these modifications. Then this draft was sent to the “Committee of the Whole”
Congress, who rejected two passages. At the time of adjournment on the third of July, the work of
editing was completed, and the Declaration of Independence was adopted and voted upon July 4,
1776, and then signed. A copy was sent to the printer with the typed signature of John Hancock,
President of the Second Continental Congress, and released the next day for the people to see.

INTRODUCTION
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.

INTRODUCTION
Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God
Why was the term “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”
used? By calling upon the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s
God”, the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of
Independence established a unified standard of liberty, which
stated that God’s law was supreme and He was the endower
of liberty. This term referred to the laws that God as the
Creator of the universe had established for the governance of
people, nations, and nature. These laws of Creation can be
defined by observing God’s creation, by divine revelation of
His Word expressly stated in the Great Commandments, and
by human instinct or reason.

PREAMBLE
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.

PREAMBLE
Self-Evident
Did Thomas Jefferson originally write that the following truths were
self-evident? Actually, he did not! He drafted the Declaration to
express that “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable”,
because they asserted a religious principle. Upon submitting the
Declaration of Independence to Benjamin Franklin for editing,
Jefferson found that his colleague had crossed out “sacred and
undeniable”, and had substituted the phrase with the word “self-
evident”. Thus, this modification made the principle an assertion of
rationality. Although the phrase is one of religious principle, even a
person not of a religious persuasion should be able to reason out these
sacred and undeniable principles.

PREAMBLE
All Men Are Created Equal
Are all men created equal? In the respect of nature, estate in life,
gender, etc. the answer would be no. Was Thomas Jefferson being
ludicrous when inequality abounded around him in the form of
slavery, or of women not having the right to vote? If those things
were the focus of what Jefferson meant, then he would have been
absurd to state such a ridiculous notion. Of course, we are
indoctrinated to think along with the French slogan of liberty,
equality, and fraternity. Thus, we are blinded to Jefferson’s intent, and
we fail to understand because we are looking at the inequalities of his
day. So, what did he mean that all men are created equal? Jefferson
meant that all mankind was created equal in the respect that they were
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

PREAMBLE
Creator
Why a Creator? We are given five attributes of God in this
Declaration of Independence. In the Introduction we are introduced to
Nature’s God as the Supreme Lawmaker, but here in the Preamble we
are told he is a Creator of all men and the Source of all rights. At the
Conclusion, He is appealed to as our Supreme Judge, in whom we
can rely on the protection of divine Providence. No longer are we
dependent upon the divine right of kings, but we are dependent on
Him as the Lawmaker, the Creator of men, the Source of all rights,
the Supreme Judge, and the divine Providence.

PREAMBLE
Unalienable Rights
What does it mean unalienable rights? Unalienable comes from the
Latin in + alienus, and means not transferable or not to be taken
away. Potentially, we were created equal in that we were gifted by
God with certain rights that are not transferable or to be taken away.
This was a bold statement to a king who believed in the divine right
of kings, a doctrine in which a king was not subject to earthly
authority, but derived their right to rule from the will of God. Yet, St.
Paul essentially stated the same thing as Jefferson when he said,
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there
is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Jefferson further explained that life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness were God given rights that were not transferable nor were
to be taken away.

PREAMBLE
Life
What is meant by life? The Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines life as “that
state of being in which the soul and body are united.” In other words, life is
from conception to death. Mankind was created by God who breathed into the
nostrils of man the breath of life, and mankind became a living soul. We were
a special part of creation, even above the animal kingdom, because God
breathed his Spirit into us. This is the reason why life is sacred, even from
conception. Scripture records that Cain was the first person to violate life when
he murdered his brother Abel. After the flood, the Noahic covenant, which we
as Noah’s descendants are still under, established the death penalty on anyone
who committed murder. The main purpose of the death penalty is that the Lord
requires the life of the murderer and to remove evil from the land. Why? Life
is sacred because it is a gift from God and we were created in the image of
God.

PREAMBLE
Liberty
What is liberty? Liberty is to be free to do something, whereas
freedom means to be free from something. While liberty is granted by
God, freedom has to be maintained. Therefore, freedom is subordinate
to liberty. Because liberty is an unalienable right from the Creator, it
cannot be taken away from us, but we may be restricted from
exercising our liberties until we have gained our freedom. A child has
been given liberty from God, however his parents have restricted his
liberty until he/she comes of age and is no longer under the tutelage
of his/her parent. Likewise, God has given us liberty; however, we
must choose to exercise our rights or to be ruled by a king.

PREAMBLE
Pursuit of Happiness
What is the pursuit of happiness? Epicurean happiness had to do with
civic virtues of courage, moderation, and justice rather than social
happiness which was achieving individual pleasure. Jefferson
understood happiness to be connected with arête or virtue or
excellence. Happiness was not equivalent to wealth, honor, or
pleasure. It is an end in itself, not the means to an end. In the
Massachusetts Constitution drafted in 1780, we see happiness
defined, “As the happiness of a people, and the good order and
preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety,
religion and morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused
through a community, but by the institution of the public worship
of GOD, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality:”
Therefore, the pursuit of happiness was the pursuit of virtue
dependent upon piety, religion, and morality.

PREAMBLE
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. 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.

PREAMBLE
Consent of the Governed
Isn’t the consent of the governed self-explanatory? No, philosophical
semantics can alter the meaning. For someone following the social
contract theory of Thomas Hobbes, who influenced modern political
philosophy and political science, the consent of the governed would
mean for the people to accept the established order of the sovereign
state. On the other hand, John Locke believed that the government
existed to protect the natural birthrights of people, which is life,
liberty, and property. Influenced by John Locke’s ideas of social
contract, Jefferson placed them into the Declaration of Independence,
and the founding fathers unanimously signed the document. Why?
Because they were on the same page concerning John Locke’s ideas
of social contract, including the phrase “consent of the governed”.

PREAMBLE
Right of the People To Alter or To Abolish It
What was meant that the Right of the People was to alter or to abolish
the Form of Government? The philosopher John Locke had written of
the right of citizens to remove any conflicting power, such as an
Executive Power or Legislative Power, which would impede them
from reinstating their Legislature, or the right of citizens to erect a
new Form. Just a month prior, the Virginian statesman George Mason
had written, “whenever any government shall be found inadequate or
contrary to these purposes, a majority for the community hath an
indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or
abolish it.” Hence, Jefferson wrote whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, that is to secure these
rights of life, liberty, and happiness, it is the Right of the People to
alter or to abolish the old, instituting a new Government.

PREAMBLE
Prudence ... All Experience Hath Shown
What does Jefferson say about having prudence and what all
experience has shown? While Jefferson warns of caution in changing
a long established Government for light and temporary causes, he
acknowledges that mankind are more disposed to allow evils rather
than to correct them by abolishing the familiar.

PREAMBLE
Despotism
What does Jefferson say about absolute Despotism? When there has
been a long series of abuses and illegal seizures that reveals an
outright tyranny, it’s not only the people’s right but it is their duty to
throw off an oppressive Government, and provide new Guards for
their future society.

PREAMBLE
Throw Off Such Government
What does it mean to throw off such Government? To expel or discard is
synonymous to throwing off. However, to throw off the Government is not
about taking to the streets rioting and looting, nor is it about organizing a
ragtag militia, because such actions can lead to a worse regime in control.
What may be meant is for the States to secede or to call for a Convention,
while establishing new Guards or defenses. In order to establish a new Form of
government that reflects that mankind was created equal in the respect that
they were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, the people
have to call on God. For example, while the South had grievances against the
federal government and chose to secede, they lacked God’s blessing because
they had forgotten that all their slaves were also created equal in the respect
that they were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. In
order to throw off the Government and establish new Guards, it takes a
righteous people working in harmony with the Creator.

TO BE CONTINUED

Insight Into The Declaration of Independence

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