The Declaration of Independence
By: Ah1Tom
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Due to the debt incurred from the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), parliament passed a series of tax acts to offset debt from the war and the expense of running the colonies.
In 1764, parliament passed the Sugar Act; a reinvigoration of the largely ineffective Molasses Act of 1733 in disguise. The Sugar Act provided for strong customs enforcement of the duties on refined sugar and molasses imported into the colonies from non-British Caribbean sources. More objectionable to the colonists were the stricter bonding regulations for shipmasters, whose cargos were subject to seizure and confiscation by British customs commissioners and who were placed under the authority of the Vice-Admiralty Court in distant Nova Scotia if they violated the trade rules or failed to pay duties.
On September 1, 1764, shortly after the Sugar Act, Parliament passed the Currency Act. This effectively allowed them to assume control of the colonial currency system. The act prohibited the issue of any new bills and the reissue of existing currency. Parliament favored a "
hard currency" system based on the pound sterling but was not inclined to regulate the colonial bills. Rather, they abolished them! The colonies protested vehemently against this. The colonies suffered a trade deficit with Great Britain and argued that the shortage of hard capital would further exacerbate the situation.
The Currency Act was followed by the Stamp Act, which required a Stamp on all printed material. This was the first colonial tax paid directly to England, not the local legislators. The Sons of Liberty formed in the summer of 1765 to oppose the act and destroyed the stamps wherever they encountered them. Bowing chiefly to pressure from British merchants and manufacturers whose colonial exports had been curtailed, Parliament, largely against the wishes of the House of Lords, repealed the act in early 1766. Simultaneously, however, Parliament issued the Declaratory Act, which reasserted its right of direct taxation anywhere within the empire, "
in all cases whatsoever." The usurpation of authority continued with the Quartering Act, requiring the colonists to house and feed the British troops. Then, the Townshend Acts of 1767 imposed taxes on imports of paper, tea, glass, lead, and paints. On March 5, 1770, the resentments led to the Boston Massacre resulting in five colonists dead and six wounded.
The Tea Act of 1773 gave the British East India Company a monopoly to trade tea in America. In December of that year, the colonists dumped all the tea from the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, into Boston Harbor rather than pay the tax on that tea. As we know, that was the Boston Tea Party. In retaliation for the Tea Party, Parliament responded with the first of The Coercive or Intolerable Acts in 1774. These acts placed Massachusetts under military rule. The colonists saw this as a violation of the British Constitution and a threat to their liberties.
Even after the events of April 19, 1775, few colonists supported complete separation and independence from England. Most were fighting for their rights as British Citizens, while the Continental Congress was still appealing directly to King George III for help with a reconciliation.
Over the next year, the feelings of the colonists changed as Britain's military force attempted to crush the rebellion. In August 1775, the King declared the colonists were engaged in open and avowed rebellion. In February 1776, Parliament passed the Prohibitory Act that established a blockade of American ports and declared American ships to be enemy vessels.
By May 1776, after suffering many violations of their liberties, and many attempts to reconcile with King George, eight colonies had decided they would support independence. Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware resisted. After a great deal of wrangling, the resolution of independence was adopted on July 2, 1776. There were 12 affirmative votes and one abstention. New York officially approved it on July 9, making it unanimous. On July 4, the final wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved and sent to the printer for publication.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.
The declaration concludes with:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
There are many versions of the fate of those 56 men who signed the Declaration and the full truth, as is often the case with history, is hard to determine. However, they all knew it was an act of treason, and the punishment if caught was almost certain death. There is no record of any of them ever capitulating in that pledge. Let's remember them this month as we celebrate the 248th anniversary of that declaration.
You can read the Full Text of The Declaration of Independence at the National Archives website HERE (https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript).Declaration_of_Independence_(1819),_by_John_Trumbull.jpg
John Trumbull's 1819 painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress. The painting can be found on the back of the U.S. $2 bill. The original hangs in the US Capitol rotunda. It does not represent a real ceremony; the characters portrayed were never in the same room at the same time.