The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence

The American Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, is one of the most important and most influential documents in the history of modern political thought. It is, at once, a statement of philosophical principles, a political manifesto, and a legal document. This article examines the meaning of the Declaration, including its philosophical foundations, its political arguments, and its lasting significance.

The Philosophical Foundations

The Declaration of Independence is grounded in the natural-rights tradition of the Enlightenment, especially in the political philosophy of John Locke. The basic argument of the Declaration — that governments are instituted to secure the unalienable rights of the citizens, and that the people have the right to alter or to abolish governments that become destructive of these ends — is a direct application of Locke’s theory of natural rights, the social contract, and the right of revolution.

The most important philosophical foundations of the Declaration are surveyed in detail in Natural Rights in the Declaration of Independence; this article focuses on the political arguments and the rhetorical form of the document.

The Political Arguments

The Declaration is not only a philosophical statement; it is also a political argument, addressed to “the opinions of mankind.” The political argument of the Declaration has several distinct parts.

The first part is the statement of the philosophical foundations, in the famous second paragraph: “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.”

The second part is the statement of the proper foundation of legitimate government: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The third part is the statement of the right of revolution: “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.”

The fourth part is the long list of “repeated injuries and usurpations” committed by the British king against the American colonies. The list is a rhetorical masterpiece, designed to demonstrate to “a candid world” that the king has, in fact, become destructive of the ends of government, and that the American colonies are justified in their decision to separate from Britain.

The political argument is designed to convince a neutral observer that the American cause is just, and it is one of the great examples of Enlightenment political rhetoric.

The Specific Charges

The list of charges against the king is long and detailed, and it includes a number of specific grievances that had been a source of colonial discontent for more than a decade.

The charges include:

The king has refused to assent to laws necessary for the public good.

The king has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate importance.

The king has obstructed the administration of justice.

The king has kept standing armies in the colonies without the consent of the legislatures.

The king has protected his officers from punishment for crimes against the colonists.

The king has “excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages.”

The list is a comprehensive indictment of British colonial policy, and it is designed to demonstrate that the king has, in effect, abdicated his role as a legitimate ruler and has become a tyrant.

The Rhetorical Style

The Declaration is a masterpiece of Enlightenment political rhetoric. The document is written in the elegant and forceful prose that was characteristic of the eighteenth century, and it uses a number of rhetorical techniques to make its argument.

The opening of the Declaration appeals to “the opinions of mankind” and to “a candid world,” establishing the universalist aspirations of the American cause. The phrase “we hold these truths to be self-evident” appeals to the universal standards of reason, and the list of grievances establishes the particular circumstances that justify the American action.

The Declaration is also a model of clarity and directness. The sentences are carefully constructed, the arguments are systematically developed, and the language is accessible to a wide audience. The Declaration is, in this sense, a model of political communication, and it has been studied and imitated by political writers and speakers ever since.

The Lasting Significance

The Declaration of Independence has had a profound and lasting influence on the political life of the modern world, and that influence can be traced in three distinct dimensions: as a foundational text of American political culture, as a model of political rhetoric and argument, and as a source of the modern doctrine of universal human rights.

In American political culture, the Declaration has served as a basic reference for the principles of constitutional government, popular sovereignty, and the protection of individual rights. The principles of the Declaration — the equality of all persons, the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the consent of the governed, the right of revolution against tyranny — have been repeatedly invoked in American political debates, from the abolitionist movement of the nineteenth century to the civil rights movement of the twentieth century, and they remain a basic reference for contemporary American political discourse.

As a model of political rhetoric and argument, the Declaration has been studied and imitated by political writers and speakers ever since. The clarity and directness of the prose, the systematic development of the argument, the universalist appeal to “the opinions of mankind,” and the careful balance between philosophical principle and political application have made the Declaration a model of how to write a political document that is at once philosophically serious and politically effective.

As a source of the modern doctrine of universal human rights, the Declaration has had an influence that extends well beyond the American context. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and the various other international human rights instruments of the twentieth century all draw on the language and the structure of the American Declaration. The contemporary international human rights regime is, a continuation of the project that the Declaration began.

The Declaration is also an important reminder of the contradictions of the American founding. The same document that proclaimed the equality of all human beings was signed by slaveholders. The contradiction has been a central feature of American political life, and the contemporary engagement with the Declaration is shaped by a recognition of both its achievements and its limitations.

The basic question that the Declaration raised — about the proper relationship between the abstract principles of the Enlightenment and the actual conditions of political life — remains the central question of contemporary American politics.

Further Reading

• Robert Darnton, The Literary Underground of the Old Regime (1982)
• Darrin McMahon, Enlightenment Contested (2006)
• Daniel Roche, The Enlightenment in the West (2010)