Declaration of Independence (1776)
A document written by Thomas JEFFERSON declaring
the North American colonies (now the United States of
America) politically independent from the British
Empire (Crown and Parliament). It is considered a
“founding” document of American government (along
with the later CONSTITUTIONof 1789) because it pres-
ents the dominant political theory of the United States.
The philosophy of the Declaration of Independence
is the NATURAL RIGHT, SOCIAL CONTRACT view of John
LOCKE. It presents a British LIBERAL view of HUMAN
NATURE, society, and government. Individuals are seen
as “free, equal and independent,” possessed of reason
and the natural rights of “life, LIBERTYand the pursuit
of happiness,” which form a government to protect
those rights. When a STATE violates those natural
human rights (to own private PROPERTYand to enjoy
liberty of movement, thought, and religion) the people
can replace the rulers with a government that properly
secures those HUMAN RIGHTS. The American Revolution
(1776–83) was justified on these ideas originating in
John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government.The Decla-
ration of Independence listed numerous violations of
the American colonists’ rights, including unfair taxes
(“taxation without representation” in Parliament), mil-
itary rule over civilian government, restriction on free
trade, interference with religious liberty, and suspen-
sion of trial by jury. All led to oppression and TYRANNY.
Great Britain regarded American independence as
treasonous and sent the British army and navy to force
the colonies to remain loyal to king and Parliament.
The American Revolution concluded with the colonies
winning their political independence and nationhood.
Consequently, the principles of national independence
in this declaration have been adopted by many
colonies and oppressed peoples (such as Mexico,
African countries, Vietnam, and the democratic Chi-
nese students’ movement). The ideals of consentual,
representative government in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence continued in the foundation document of
the American republic: the U.S. Constitution.
Jefferson’s statement in the declaration that “all
men are created equal” was employed by President
Abraham LINCOLNin arguments for the emancipation
of slaves in the United States and the Confederacy dur-
ing the Civil War.
Further Reading
Boyd, Julian P. The Declaration of Independence;the evolution of
the text as shown in facsimiles of various drafts by its
author. Issued in conjunction with an exhibit of these
drafts at the Library of Congress on the 200th anniversary
of the birth of Thomas Jefferson. 1945.democracy/democratic
A society or government ruled by the people or by
popular SOVEREIGNTY. The idea of popular government
originated in the ancient Greek political thought of
Athens. The word democracyderives from the Greek
words demos(“people” or “many”) and cracy(“ruled
by” or “regime of”). Democratic government is the
favored type of government in the MODERNperiod, and
other forms of rule (such as MONARCHY—rule of one—
or ARISTOCRACY—rule of a few) are considered illegiti-
mate or inherently unjust. Almost all states in the
20th-century world (even COMMUNIST and FASCIST)
claimed to be democratic or a “REPUBLIC.” All nonde-
mocratic states are considered dictatorial in this mod-
ern view.
Historically, however, Western political thought has
not favored democratic styles of government. PLATO
and ARISTOTLEoften associated the rule of the many
with the ignorant, impoverished masses, producing
unjust, foolish government. For CLASSICALpolitical the-
ory, virtuous governing required qualified citizens, and
most people would not be intellectually, morally, eco-
nomically, and culturally prepared to rule wisely. So, a
more elitist governing group was preferred (usually
adult, male, wealthy, educated, experienced persons)
by the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. During
the Middle Ages in Europe, St. Thomas AQUINAS
adopted this classical view that just government ruled
for the “common good” but did not have to be demo-
cratic to do so.
The modern preference for democratic, REPUBLICAN
government came from the British LIBERALISM, which
conceived of just government from the “CONSENTof
the governed.” Any human possessed of reason and
having an interest in social law should be allowed to
participate in governing. John Locke’s SOCIAL CON-
TRACTview of the state is automatically democratic
because every member of society has equal natural
rights requiring state protection, is taxed to support
that STAT E, and therefore has a right to have a say in
the laws governing him or her. From this modern lib-
eral logic, the franchise, or right, to participate in gov-
erning through voting is properly extended to more
and more individuals. The experience in the West has
been to gradually expand the SUFFRAGE(voting) right80 Declaration of Independence