Despite the fact that the War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Continental Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Because the colonists felt that their rights had been violated after numerous usurpations by the English monarchy, the Declaration was written to announce to Parliament that the colonies would be free and would undertake their own government founded on democratic principles. Included in the Declaration were twenty-seven grievances that directly addressed King George III, who held “repeated injuries and usurpations” of the Americans’ rights (U.S. 1776). One particular grievance highlighted the desecrations of the king in a forthright manner: “He has
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His action of writing the Declaration was both a great deed of rebellion and the creation of a new state. Being concerned about providing a philosophical justification for what was being done, he drew inspiration and mirrored the philosophies of John Locke (Hole, 2001). Locke believed there was a social contract between man and government, and if government failed to protect the rights of its citizens, man had the right to overthrow government and form a new kind. Jefferson explicitly put this down: “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 to abolish it, and to institute new Government” (U.S. 1776). He further wrote that it was man’s right, even duty, to throw off such government. The claim that government took their authority from the consent of the people was a rather controversial idea that contradicted many established ideals of monarchial government. Furthermore, the claim that people could eliminate a monarchy and supersede it with a democratic form was unprecedented. Be that as it may, the assertion that all men were created equal with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as stated in the Declaration, was even more revolutionary. It was
His action of writing the Declaration was both a great deed of rebellion and the creation of a new state. Being concerned about providing a philosophical justification for what was being done, he drew inspiration and mirrored the philosophies of John Locke (Hole, 2001). Locke believed there was a social contract between man and government, and if government failed to protect the rights of its citizens, man had the right to overthrow government and form a new kind. Jefferson explicitly put this down: “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 to abolish it, and to institute new Government” (U.S. 1776). He further wrote that it was man’s right, even duty, to throw off such government. The claim that government took their authority from the consent of the people was a rather controversial idea that contradicted many established ideals of monarchial government. Furthermore, the claim that people could eliminate a monarchy and supersede it with a democratic form was unprecedented. Be that as it may, the assertion that all men were created equal with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as stated in the Declaration, was even more revolutionary. It was