The Declaration of Independence is often depicted as a document that liberated every soul in the infant United States from the tyranny of king--this was not entirely the case. The document meant different things for different people: for slaves it meant business as usual, for the leaders of society it was something that liberated them from the oppression of the crown and gave them the power to govern as they saw fit, for Native Americans it meant their way of life was threatened and for the common man it meant he or she was no longer English. While the document does not mean freedom for all, it did make great strides--for its time--in attempting to bring all peoples into the fold of American democracy. This declaration is a far cry from
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After the Crown became synonymous with tyranny, any new form of government seemed to be liberating to the American people. The country was ready to implement their own laws and policies--even if they were not yet sure of it. Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, put this idea of self governing in their heads. His pamphlet was instrumental in making the majority of colonists yearn for their own government. Paine accomplishes this by depicting Britain as a distant, far away land. A land that has no legal right to rule the American people (Paine). People began to think, how do they know more about America than me? People responded well to this and started to agree with him. Paine did a great job destroying the notion of the need to be British. This meant that the American elites would be able to better govern the United States of America in a manner they saw as fit. After a long debate, the Declaration of Independence came to fruition. With the power to create their own political institutions, the American government began to grow. This is freedom. No longer did the colonies have a debt or tax to pay to the crown, they could conduct themselves as they saw fit. This meant that the American elite could make their own decision on slavery, taxes and other important issues. It meant that, for the American elite, they had a new found freedom from the
After the Crown became synonymous with tyranny, any new form of government seemed to be liberating to the American people. The country was ready to implement their own laws and policies--even if they were not yet sure of it. Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, put this idea of self governing in their heads. His pamphlet was instrumental in making the majority of colonists yearn for their own government. Paine accomplishes this by depicting Britain as a distant, far away land. A land that has no legal right to rule the American people (Paine). People began to think, how do they know more about America than me? People responded well to this and started to agree with him. Paine did a great job destroying the notion of the need to be British. This meant that the American elites would be able to better govern the United States of America in a manner they saw as fit. After a long debate, the Declaration of Independence came to fruition. With the power to create their own political institutions, the American government began to grow. This is freedom. No longer did the colonies have a debt or tax to pay to the crown, they could conduct themselves as they saw fit. This meant that the American elite could make their own decision on slavery, taxes and other important issues. It meant that, for the American elite, they had a new found freedom from the