Jonah Patel
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two of the most important documents in American history. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, expressed the ideals on which the United States was founded and outlined the reasons for its separation from Great Britain. It was influenced by various sources, including the Virginia Declaration of Rights, de Vattel's The Law of Nations, and the Scottish Enlightenment. The Constitution, on the other hand, defines the framework of the US federal government and, along with the Declaration, has influenced leaders of other nations, such as the French Revolution and the Russian Empire.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Influencers | Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, Francis Hutcheson, de Vattel, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, George Mason, Marquis de Lafayette (France), Casmir Pulaski (Poland), Thaddeus Kosciusko (Poland), Johan DeKalb (Bavaria), Friedrich Wilhelm von Stueben (Prussia), George Washington |
| Philosophical influences | Republicanism, classical liberalism, Scottish Enlightenment, natural rights, social contract |
| Purpose | To explain why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and to express the international legal sovereignty of the United States |
| Impact | Inspired the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), influenced the Russian Empire, provided clarity about the Constitution and other laws, inspired people around the world to fight for freedom and equality |
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What You'll Learn
John Locke's social contract theory
Locke's conception of the State of Nature is central to his social contract theory. In Locke's view, the State of Nature is a condition of total liberty, where individuals are free to conduct their lives without interference, but this does not equate to license or the absence of restraint. This state of nature is distinct from Hobbes' perspective, which portrays it as a place of utter brutality, necessitating the submission to absolute authority. Locke's interpretation reflects the individualism he witnessed during the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England, significantly shaping the political and legal theories of the time.
Locke's social contract theory emphasizes the inherent rights of people, the rule of law, and the government's role as a guardian of those rights. These ideas laid the theoretical foundation for contemporary democracy and are encapsulated in the unalienable rights of "life, liberty, and property". Locke's arguments for the social contract and the right to revolt against the monarch had a profound influence on democratic revolutions, particularly on Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers of the United States.
The Declaration of Independence, formally titled "The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America", was adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. It serves as the founding document of the United States, outlining the principles of American governance and identity. The Declaration asserts the independence and sovereignty of the Thirteen Colonies, justifying their separation from British colonial rule. While the Declaration is not legally binding, it has had a lasting impact, inspiring global struggles for freedom and equality.
The influence of Locke's social contract theory is evident in the principles espoused by the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration's proclamation of certain unalienable rights, including "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," reflects Locke's emphasis on inherent rights and individual liberty. While some scholars debate the extent of Locke's influence on the Declaration, his ideas undoubtedly contributed to the philosophical underpinnings of this foundational document, shaping the course of American democracy and its enduring impact worldwide.
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Thomas Jefferson's interpretation of Locke
John Locke was a philosopher who influenced Thomas Jefferson's ideas as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Locke was a strong advocate for individual rights and freedoms, particularly the right to life, liberty, and property.
Jefferson's interpretation of Locke's ideas, however, was somewhat different from Locke's original concepts. Jefferson's interpretation of Locke's ideas in the Declaration of Independence was an adaptation of the original natural rights concept. Jefferson's revision of Locke's theory included the notion of inalienable rights, meaning that these rights could not be taken away by anyone, including the government. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness became synonymous with inalienable rights.
Jefferson's interpretation of Locke's natural rights theory expanded the concept and adapted it to a new and unique set of circumstances. Jefferson adapted Locke's ideas to highlight rights as inalienable and expressed them as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Both thinkers agreed on the importance of government deriving its power from the consent of the governed, which shaped the foundation of American democracy.
Another essential aspect of Locke's philosophy that Jefferson embraced was the notion that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. This is expressed in the Declaration through the idea that if a government fails to protect the rights of its people, those people have the right to alter or abolish it. Therefore, Jefferson's interpretation of Locke's ideas emphasized the importance of individual rights and the responsibility of the government to uphold those rights. It was a significant adaptation that contributed to the formation of a new nation based on democratic principles.
Jefferson also incorporated Locke's idea of social contract theory into the Declaration of Independence. Locke, along with Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is notable for creating social contract political philosophy. The social contract is the agreement between the government and its citizens, defining the rights of each party. According to this theory, individuals are born into an anarchic state of nature and then form a society and government through a contract.
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Iroquois Confederacy political concepts
The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, was a powerful influence on the US Constitution. The Iroquois Confederacy dates back several centuries, to when the Great Peacemaker founded it by uniting five nations: the Mohawks, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Oneida, and the Seneca. In around 1722, the Tuscarora nation joined the Iroquois, after which the confederacy became known as the "'Six Nations'".
The Iroquois Confederacy provided a real-life example of some of the political concepts the framers of the US Constitution were interested in adopting. The constitutional framers admired their federalist principles, such as unification through mutual defence and the conduct of foreign affairs. Each of the Six Nations ruled themselves while enjoying the peace and support brought to them by the Confederacy. The chiefs of the Six Nations were hereditary rulers, something the framers wanted to avoid, given their grievances with Britain's King George III.
The Iroquois Confederacy was a politically united Native American polity until the American Revolution, when the League was divided by their conflicting views on how to respond to requests for aid from the British Crown. The League's Council of Fifty ruled on disputes and sought consensus. However, the confederacy did not speak for all five tribes, which continued to act independently and form their own war bands.
The symbols of the union included the longhouse, the Tree of Peace, the eagle, and a cluster of arrows. The eagle that flew over the Tree of Peace guarded the confederacy, looking out for enemies. A bunch of five arrows, one representing each nation, were bound together, with the observation that it is much harder to break a bundle of five arrows than just one arrow.
The Senate recognized the influence of the Iroquois Confederacy on the construction of the Constitution in a resolution read on September 16, 1987, noting that the framers of the Constitution, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, admired the concepts, principles, and governmental practices of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.
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Eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophers
The American Revolution and the subsequent War for Independence were significantly influenced by the Enlightenment, a 17th-century intellectual movement that sparked new ideas about human rights, science, government, and reason, coupled with a sense of liberal nationalism. The Enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century played a pivotal role in shaping the thoughts and ideals that would be enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
One of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers was the Englishman John Locke, who, at the end of the 17th century, expanded the notion of the "social contract" between the governed and the governing. Locke's philosophy held that individuals had natural rights, including life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, and that governments were established to protect these rights. This philosophy greatly influenced Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, and can be seen in the document's emphasis on the pursuit of happiness and natural rights.
Another Enlightenment philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, also left an imprint on the Declaration of Independence. Rousseau's ideas on popular sovereignty and the social contract, as outlined in his work "The Social Contract" (1762), resonated with the American colonists' beliefs in self-governance and consent of the governed. Rousseau's philosophy provided a theoretical framework for justifying rebellion against a government that failed to protect the natural rights of its citizens.
The Scottish Enlightenment, particularly the philosopher Francis Hutcheson, also influenced the thinking of the Founding Fathers. Hutcheson's moral philosophy, which emphasized the importance of virtue, public good, and the rights of conscience, may have shaped Jefferson's thinking on the role of government in securing individual happiness and liberty.
Additionally, the writings of Voltaire, an 18th-century French Enlightenment philosopher, are believed to have influenced Benjamin Franklin, one of the few Americans to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Voltaire's advocacy for religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state may have informed Franklin's own ideas about religious freedom and the establishment of a secular government.
The Enlightenment ideas of these philosophers provided a philosophical foundation for the American Revolution and the creation of a new nation. The Declaration of Independence, with its assertion of natural rights and self-evident truths, and the Constitution, with its establishment of a government by and for the people, were manifestations of the Enlightenment ideals that had taken root in the minds of America's Founding Fathers.
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Magna Carta and other federations
The Magna Carta, or the "Great Charter of Freedoms", was an important influence on the thinking of the Founding Fathers. It represented the idea that people could stand up for their rights against oppressive rulers and that governments could be limited in their powers to protect those rights. The Founding Fathers were inspired by this medieval pact as they forged the nation's founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
The influence of the Magna Carta can be seen in the Declaration of Independence, which used it as a model for free men petitioning a despotic government for their God-given rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The Founding Fathers were reacting to decades of abuses by the British Parliament, which the colonists believed had betrayed the "higher law" of the Magna Carta. The colonists sought the preservation of their self-government, freedom from taxation without representation, the right to a trial by a jury of their countrymen, and their enjoyment of "life, liberty, and property" free from arbitrary interference from the crown.
The influence of the Magna Carta is also reflected in the US Constitution. The Fifth Amendment, which guarantees that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law", is a concept that originates from the Magna Carta. Similarly, the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of "a speedy trial" is also founded in the political thought that grew from the Magna Carta. The Constitution's guarantee of the "privilege of the writ of habeas corpus" (Article 1, Section 9) is another concept that grew from the Magna Carta, as did the phrase "the law of the land".
The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, also has roots in the Magna Carta. For example, the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of excessive bail and fines can be traced back to the 20th clause of the Magna Carta.
While the Magna Carta was an important influence, it is difficult to identify specific federations that influenced the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. However, it is worth noting that the Articles of Confederation, which served as the United States' first constitution, established a weak central government that prevented individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy. The issues with this system, along with the need for a more powerful central government during the Revolutionary War, led to the creation of the current US Constitution.
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Frequently asked questions
The Declaration of Independence was a statement of the principles on which the United States was founded and the reasons for its separation from Great Britain.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. It was then reviewed by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson was influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was drafted by George Mason. Other influences include the Scottish Enlightenment, particularly Francis Hutcheson, and de Vattel's "The Law of Nations", which was the dominant international law treatise of the period.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are both considered founding documents of the United States and are collectively known as the Charters of Freedom. The Declaration of Independence expresses the ideals on which the United States was founded, while the Constitution defines the framework of the Federal Government.
The Declaration of Independence inspired people around the world to fight for freedom and equality. It also influenced the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, as well as Russian thinkers and the Decembrist revolt.
