The Declaration of Independence is one of Americas greatest document to be written by, Thomas Jefferson, and signed by the Continental Congress. Thomas Jefferson was Americas third president and had a large influence on our country’s freedom from England. Jeffersons’ purpose on writing the Declaration of Independence was to declare the thirteen colonies in America freedom (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina).
This document was established on July 4, 1776. “that these United Colonies, are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown,” (Jefferson 414), On this day America became a free and independent state. We thank Jefferson for writing this document to gives us freedom from England. In this document Jefferson writes about the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
The Declaration of Independence has three different parts first it has a preamble, which later became the most famous part of this document but was mostly ignored at first. The preamble is the opening to the United States Constitution. The preamble explains the reasons why the Framers of the Constitution made our government a republic.
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The Preamble along with the rest of the Constitution was written over a time frame of about 6 weeks. The Preamble helped explain why the Constitution was written. I even had to memorize that part of the document for a grade in school when learning about the Declaration of Independence. The second part of the document has a list of the sins that the King of Great Britain had done. The third part of the document declares Americas independence from Great Britain and that all of the connections between the British King and the states of America will be over.
Thomas Jefferson blamed the King of Great Britain the reason that led up to the declaration of Independence. The King had the power to do whatever he wanted. He did not care for his soldiers; he did not feed or house them. He would send them elsewhere and expect others to do that. Thomas wrote twenty-seven abuses committed by the King. Thomas said, “He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”(Jefferson 412), which means that the King never attended the important meeting to pass laws. The King used his people and had no respect for them. He also taxed the people to get money to pay for the war “For imposing Taxes on us without out Consent” (Jefferson 413). He only cared about himself and his own wellbeing.
“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” (Jefferson), is a common quote from the Declaration of Independence. These powerful words and the meaning of them helped form a platform for democracy in the United States of America. The government cannot deprive you of life or freedom without due process, and the pursuit of happiness just means you get the right to try to make a great life for yourself. Everyone has the right to happiness; you just need to do what makes you happy, you are not guaranteed to anything. Every person has the right to live a free life. We have the freedom of health and education.
The document stated how “all men are created equally”. I disagree with that part of the document because all men were not created equally. Jefferson had written a passage on slaves, but it was removed on the final document. Thomas spoke against slavery, but he had slaves up until the day that he died.
Jefferson could not afford to free his slaves. If he would have freed his slaves, he would have become bankrupt because he would not have any money. The slaves were held captured and treated unjust; they were working for the white men. No person should ever be treated unequal, we should all be treated the same and like the humans that we are. I believe the only men who were created equally in this document was the whites.
The Declaration of Independence has given us Americans freedom today. Our country now looks back in history and we thank Jefferson for his willingness to fight against Great Britain. In school we learn about the history of the Declaration of Independence. Everyone knows about the Declaration of Independence.
We celebrate July fourth with fireworks, cook outs, and partying. We have a good time with family and friends but don’t know the real meaning. I do not think everyone knows the whole story and history of the Declaration of Independence document. The main focus of this document is that all men being created equal. Even though not all men were created equal, in todays society we are all equal. Today is much better than what it was many years ago. Skin color does not matter, what matters is a person’s inside. Even though I do believe our society now can-do way better we have come a long way since then, slavery is now in the past. We are all free and have independence. We need to be thankful that we can wake up in the morning and go to work where we want, and kids can go to school to get an education. We have so many more rights and freedom than what this country had before.
I am blessed to have all of the freedom that I do today. I know that there are still countries who do not have as much freedom and opportunities as we do today. Our society needs to treat others how they want to be treated themselves. The Declaration of Independence played a big role in our freedom today.
References
- National Archives: Declaration of Independence
- US History: The Declaration of Independence
- History.com: Declaration of Independence
- Library of Congress: Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence
- Founders Online: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Richard Henry Lee, 8 June 1776
- The Founders’ Constitution: Volume 1, Chapter 1, Document 4 – Benjamin Franklin, “Proposals for Articles of Confederation”
