The Declaration Justifies Revolution v1
Was independence worth a war? Learn how the Continental Congress made their case.
The year was 1775. The colonists hoped that King George III would listen to their complaints.
To the Kings most excellent Majesty Most gracious sovereign,
We your Majesty's faithful subjects of the colonies...
entreat your Majesty's gracious attention to this our humble petition
The King had refused to negotiate with the colonists. The colonists held protests and boycotts. Tensions increased.
Five colonists in Boston were killed by British soldiers in 1770. The confrontation became known as during the Boston Massacre. By 1775, colonists had memorialized this event as part of a pattern of clashes including the battle at Gordon Hill in New York (1770), the Gaspée incident in Rhode Island (1772), and the battle at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts (1775). (“The Bloody Massacre” engraved by Paul Revere, 1770. The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC01868)
July 1776: Declaring Independence
King George did not respond to colonists’ petitions. By July 1776, the possibility of an agreement between colonists and the king seemed increasingly out of reach.
The Declaration of Independence shared what the colonists had gradually learned:
The British empire was not inclined to change.
This 1762 portrait of King George III in his coronation robes conveys the king’s authority and wealth. He expected obedience.
What could the colonists do when the king wouldn’t listen?
On July 4, the Continental Congress issued a declaration to explain why the colonies wanted to become a new nation.
The Declaration describes wanting to “dissolve the political bands” with Britain. For Americans, this meant ending an agreement to be ruled by the British empire.
It meant independence. They would make a new nation.
Making the Case for Independence
After the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, it quickly informed the public. Communities came together for readings along parade routes and in public squares. State delegations sent letters by express riders, asked sheriffs to make announcements, and encouraged ministers to deliver news from their pulpits.
Most colonists learned about the Declaration of Independence when it was printed in newspapers and posters.
This gallery of images features copies of the Declaration of Independence, organized chronologically, starting with Thomas Jefferson’s "Original Rough Draught."
The Continental Congress needed to convince colonists that independence was justified, even if it meant war.
People reading the Declaration learned how the British government had failed them.
First, the Declaration insisted that the British government failed to protect “unalienable Rights.”
What made rights unalienable?
Drawing upon Enlightenment ideas, unalienable rights were natural rights. They were gifts from God. They were essential to being a person.
Unalienable rights could not be denied or surrendered. They were forever.
The Declaration said that these “unalienable Rights” included “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
The Declaration’s authors believed that Life was God’s first and biggest gift.
Liberty allowed individuals to protect their lives.
The Pursuit of Happiness was life’s aim.
Despite having these rights, most people willingly settled for less. “While Evils are sufferable” people would suffer rather than risk death and war.
They accepted that government would not do a perfect job of protecting their rights.
When was revolution worth it?
When “Government becomes destructive” of “unalienable Rights.”
For Americans, it was worth cutting ties with the king at this particular moment. King George III wanted to destroy “unalienable Rights.” Therefore it was appropriate to revolt.
The people needed to revolt because King George would otherwise rob them of all liberty. He would endanger their lives. In that context, revolution was a (comparatively) good choice.
What Next?
Americans had big hopes for their nation.
In this engraving, the goddess Liberty blesses the American flag with her presence. She shares her gifts with a fierce-looking bald eagle: unity (the chalice), an end to tyranny (objects crushed by her foot), and triumph and prosperity (the garland).
A New Government
Americans did want a government . . . just not a British government.
They made plans to establish state governments. They were already seeking out trading partners ensure prosperity and diplomatic allies to prevent invasions. They would organize a national government.
The Declaration promised a new United States government that would improve both “Safety and Happiness.”
People reading the Declaration sometimes looked for a promise that went beyond “Safety and Happiness.”
What would “all men are created equal” mean if put into practice?
As Benjamin Banneker noted in a 1791 letter to Thomas Jefferson, “we are all of the Same Family.”
Banneker was a free African American, and Jefferson was a slaveholding author of the Declaration. Though both Americans, they sharply disagreed about what “all Men are created equal” meant.
Cover of Benjamin Bannaker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac, for the Year of our Lord 1795. Baltimore, Maryland, 1794. (Rare Book Collection, H. Furlong Baldwin Library, Maryland Center for History and Culture.)
