American Revolution SOL 4a

New political ideas about the relationship between people and their government helped to justify the Declaration of Independence. The revolutionary generation formulated the political philosophy and laid the institutional foundations for the system of government under which we live.

The American Revolution was inspired by ideas concerning natural rights and political authority, and its successful completion affected people and governments throughout the world for many generations. Natural rights, also called inalienable rights, are considered to be self-evident and universal. They are not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government. Legal rights, such as constitutional rights are provided under a particular political and legal system; they are relative to specific cultures and governments. Legal rights are listed in constitutions and laws.

Essential Questions How did the ideas of John Locke and Thomas Paine influence Thomas Jefferson’s writings in the Declaration of Independence?

The ideas of John Locke The period known as the “Enlightenment” in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries saw the development of new ideas about the rights of people and their relationship to their rulers. “There cannot any one moral Rule be propos'd, whereof a Man may not justly demand a Reason” – John Locke

John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher whose ideas, more than any other’s influenced the American belief in self-government.

Locke wrote that: All people are free, equal, and have “natural rights” of life, liberty, and property that rulers cannot take away. All original power resides in the people, and they consent to enter into a “social contract” among themselves to form a government to protect their rights. In return, the people promise to obey the laws and rules established by their government, establishing a system of “ordered liberty.”

Government’s powers are limited to those the people have consented to give to it. Whenever government becomes a threat to the people’s natural rights, it breaks the social contract and the people have the right to alter or overthrow it.

Locke’s ideas about the sovereignty and rights of the people were radical and challenged the centuries-old practice throughout the world of dictatorial rule by kings, emperors, and tribal chieftains. Born in 1632 to a wealthy English family, Locke passed away in 1704, long before many of his works would influence the birth of a democratic America. Locke made history by thinking outside the box – something every schoolchild learns today as a matter of course.

Thomas Paine and Common Sense Thomas Paine was an English immigrant to America who produced a pamphlet known as Common Sense that challenged the rule of the American colonies by the King of England. Common Sense was read and acclaimed by many American colonies during the mid-1700s and contributed to a growing sentiment for independence from England.

Published anonymously, Common Sense appeared on Philadelphia streets in January 1776

Quotes from Common Sense, 1776: These are the times that try men's souls. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'tis time to part. If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

The Declaration of Independence The eventual draft of the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, reflected the ideas of Locke and Paine: “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.”

“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 abolish it, and to institute new government…” Jefferson then went on to detail many of the grievances against the king that Paine had earlier described in Common Sense.

Jefferson drafted the Declaration On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee of five men to write a Declaration of Independence - Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Jefferson wrote the first draft. Church bells rang out on July 4, 1776, the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted and our nation was officially born. Jefferson drafted the Declaration on this portable lap desk of his own design Thomas Jefferson

(left to right) Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence

The original title for The Declaration of Independence was The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. The words "United States" cannot be found in the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock supposedly said that Congress, having signed the Declaration, must now "all hang together", and Benjamin Franklin replied: "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.“

The original Declaration is has faded badly, largely because of poor preservation techniques during the 19th century. The document measures 29-3/4 inches by 24-1/2 inches

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights can be seen in the National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. In the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. These three documents, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom, have secured the rights of the American people for more than two and a quarter centuries. The documents are held in an upright cases constructed of ballistically tested glass and plastic laminate. At night, the documents are stored in an underground vault. Previously kept in The Library of Congress, the documents were transferred to their current location in 1952 escorted by members of the Armed Forces Special Police, two light tanks, and an armored Marine Corps personnel carrier.