First Essay for A&P

Declaration of Independence

This semester we have reviewed three books, two of which, Freethinkers by Susan Jacoby and Nature’s God:The Heretical Origins of the American Republic by Matthew Stewart included information on Declaration of Independence. Additionally, I have read Carl L. Becker’s The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas which was cited in Stewart’s book, and Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality.

It may be helpful to begin this post with a link to some American historical documents which would have been accessed by all three authors. https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/DeclarInd.html

I recommend starting with Thomas Jefferson’s Rough Draft of the Declaration. There is some uncertainty respecting the authorship but the consensus is that Jefferson did draft it and that Dr. Franklin and John Adams reviewed his rough draft and made corrections and suggestions. Adams suggested that he was instrumental in directing Jefferson to take the lead; Jefferson had a different recollection being designated as the drafter by the committee of five. The other two members on the Committee were Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. For me what is especially endearing from a literary standpoint is to see certainly one of the greatest minds in history handwriting and editing arguably one of the greatest documents in American history. For struggling aspiring writers, it is refreshing to know that even the best did not get it right the first time as evidenced by his rough draft. I would like to see what words were lined out to better understand his thought process.

American from the 1750s to 1770s did not have social media, TV channels with entertainment and sports, or 24/7 news coverage. They had newspapers and pamphlets and they probably devoted many hours to talking with each other about issues that impacted them and were probably better informed than many of us today about politics.

As I mentioned in class there are 1337 words in the Declaration of Independence, but I won’t post those here. What I will post is the first paragraph and ask you to read it very slowly and ask lots of questions about the word choice. I credit Danielle Allen for making me look at this in a much more questioning way than I did even as we discussed aspects of it in our class.

“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 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.”

What did Jefferson mean by “course”? It might interest you to know that months before John Adams in a letter to Richard Henry Lee after they met the night before, opened with “Dear Sir, The Course of Events.” Did Adams and Jefferson use the word with the same meaning? Did Jefferson borrow it from Adams? What is your definition of “course?” Allen suggests it is analogous to a “river.”

Allen also pointed out a seemingly meaningless punctuation error on the copy of the Declaration of Independence maintained by the National Archives. However, the difference between a period and a comma has a great impact on how passage is viewed. I’ll cover it on my final report, because if you are like me, you are probably more familiar with the National Archives version even though there is no evidence on the original documents to support the current punctuation.

Here are some good reference books and some links to digital sources.

Allen, Danielle. Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2014.

Becker, Carl L. The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas. 1958 ed. New York: Vantage Books, 1942.

Hogeland, William. Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-July 4, 1776. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010.

Jacoby, Susan. Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2004.

Stewart, Matthew. Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.

Links to various sites:

Adams papers – http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/

Journals of Continental Congress – http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.law/amlaw.lwjc

Letters of delegates to Congress – http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.law/amlaw.lwdg

Letters of Richard Henry Lee – http://archive.org/details/richhenryleelet01richrich

Papers of Thomas Jefferson – http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/TSJN.html (Documents in this publication are viewable by registered users only. Log in or register for a free trial.)