We Americans sometimes underestimate the importance of our Declaration of Independence.
American schoolchildren learn about the Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress in July of 1776. Some even memorize the portion that goes:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, and 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…”
While the constitution ratified eleven years later sets out our fundamental law, the Declaration of Independence sets out the democratic theory of natural rights upon which all our laws were to be based: that we all have rights merely because we are human; that those rights existed before government—they weren’t created by government; and that each of us is created with equal rights. Government has no other purpose than to secure those rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness wherever and however each of us may find it.
These ideas unleashed a wave of liberation that toppled monarchies throughout the western world. Within fifty years of 1776, successful revolutions established unprecedented representative governments all over the western hemisphere (Mexico, Argentina, Gran Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Haiti), as well as in France and Greece. The American ideology of democracy also liberalized domestic politics in Great Britain, Spain, and other Western European nations. Our revolution changed the world.
"The History of Our Freedoms" is produced by KEDT-FM in Corpus Christi. Dr. Bill Chriss is a historian and legal scholar. For more on history and the constitution, check out his blog at https://drbillchriss.substack.com/.
