According To Jefferson What Is The Purpose Of Government – Use this Narrative and Sign the Decision Points of the Declaration of Independence to give students a complete picture of the declaration.

In early 1776, war raged across the colonies. The Siege of Boston was lifted, but a larger British invasion force was preparing to attack New York. Colonies were making their own constitutions and declaring their rights. It was time for the Continental Congress to confront the urgent question of independence.

According To Jefferson What Is The Purpose Of Government

, who attacked King George III as a “royal brute” and undermined the idea of ​​hereditary monarchy. Paine argued for independence and freedom. He proclaimed that “in the free land of the law of Moses

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To be king.” The forty-six-page pamphlet is reputed to have sold an incredible 150,000 copies (to a population of not quite three million), giving it an even wider audience, because people passed it or publicly read it aloud.

On May 15, Congress passed a resolution calling on the assemblies and conventions to “adopt such government as, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, will best conduce to the happiness and safety of the constituents in particular and of America in general.” ” Massachusetts delegate John Adams thought that writing the republican constitution was an act of “independence itself.” He added a preamble that boldly stated:

It is necessary that all the exercise of authority under this crown should be entirely suppressed, and all the powers of government exercised, under the authority of the people in the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order. , as well as for the defense of their lives, liberty, and property, against the hostile invasions and depredations of their wicked enemies.

The same day, the Virginia Convention directed its delegates to Philadelphia to “propose to this respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance or dependence upon the crown or parliament of Great Britain.” As battles raged between colonists and redcoats, momentum for independence continued to build.

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On June 7, Virginian Richard Henry Lee took to the floor of Congress and proposed that “These United Colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent States, to be absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and for all. The political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, entirely dissolved.” The controversial resolution sparked a contentious debate. Delegate John Dickinson, in his essay

Protested against the actions of the British in the colonies, argued against the call for independence, believed that the time was not yet good for separation and that violence should not be used to resolve the conflict. Other delegates, including Edward Rutledge of South Carolina and James Wilson of Pennsylvania, opposed Lee’s resolution on principle, as they were not authorized to support it by their constituents.

Congress appointed a committee of five – John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson – to draft a Declaration of Independence. The committee, in turn, gave the task of writing the document to Jefferson thirty-three years. As Adams later reflected, the reason was “the elegance of his pen”. Jefferson authored several important works on natural rights and republican government, including the 1774 pamphlet,

, where he wrote that the rights of the people “come from the laws of nature, and not as gifts from the chief magistrates”. In July 1775, Jefferson also wrote “Declaration of the causes and necessity of taking up arms.”

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Jefferson had with him a copy of the Virginia Bill of Rights, which was printed there

June 12. This influential document declared the rights of nature and maintained the government’s stated goals:

That all people are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, in which, when they enter a state of society, they cannot by any contract, deprive or devote their offspring; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, and the means of acquiring and possessing property, and the pursuit and attainment of happiness and security.

On the nights of June 12 and 13, Jefferson sat in his boarding house and composed a draft of the Declaration of Independence. He submitted it to Adams and the committee, who made several modifications, and the document was sent to Congress.

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This famous 1819 painting by John Trumbull shows members of the committee responsible for writing the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Continental Congress in 1776. Notice the British flags on the wall. From the British perspective, everyone who signed this document committed treason.

On July 1, while a thunderstorm raged outside, Congress held an epic debate between John Dickinson and John Adams. Dickinson opposed a hasty separation from Britain and argued for reconciliation. He warned his fellow delegates that they would have to “brave the storm in a paper skiff”. Adams was a passionate advocate for declaring independence. After nine hours of speeches that ran into the evening, four colonies still voted against Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence.

With two other members of the Delaware delegation at odds, Caesar Rodney mounted a horse and rode seventy miles in the rain to break a tie, arriving the next morning to secure the colony’s vote in favor of independence. Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained and allowed the Pennsylvania delegation to vote for independence, despite their personal opposition. South Carolina held out until Rutledge, recognizing the importance of a unanimous declaration by the entire Congress, decided to change his vote in favor of the resolution. The New York delegates, awaiting instructions from the legislature, abstained for several days. However, on July 2, Congress voted to approve Lee’s resolution. John Adams was pleased with his wife Abigail that Americans would celebrate the day forever as their independence day.

Congress revised the Declaration of Independence the next day and changed about a quarter of the text, making the final product an expression of the entire Congress. Heavily influenced by John Locke’s social contract ideas in it

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, the document called for a government created by the consent of the people, recognizing that rights do not come from the government but from “nature and nature’s God.” He proclaimed that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that their Creator gives them certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The Declaration argued that republican government was based on a social contract in which the sovereign people voluntarily agreed to govern themselves through representatives charged with protecting their inalienable rights. The People had the right to overthrow a government that violated natural rights:

To secure these rights, governments are established among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these purposes, it is the right of the people to change or abolish it, and institute new governments. , put its foundation on these principles and organize its powers in this form, as they would seem more likely to affect their security and happiness.

A list of grievances accused the king of “repeated injury and usurpation” of the rights of the settlers. Together, these offenses proved a “design to reduce them under absolute despotism”. This attempt to impose “an absolute tyranny” justifies severing their connection with the British Crown and declaring their independence. With a “firm dependence on the protection of God’s providence”, the delegates pledged to each other “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor”.

Adopted on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read to enthusiastic crowds and members of the military. No longer colonists, Americans laid the foundation for their republic on the universal principles of natural rights and self-government by consent.

Of The Most Famous Thomas Jefferson Quotes

1. Which of the following documents did the most to change public opinion toward independence in early 1776?

3. Which document was a national bestseller that argued for American independence and convinced many colonists to become Patriots?

AP Practice Questions “Whereas his Britannic Majesty, together with the lords and commons of Great Britain, have, by a recent act of Parliament, excluded the inhabitants of these United Colonies from the protection of his crown; And whereas there is no answer, whatever, to the humble petition of the colonies for redress of grievances and reconciliation with Great Britain, or is likely to be given; but all the forces of this kingdom, aided by foreign mercenaries, are to be exercised for the destruction of the good people in these colonies; And whereas, it appears absolutely irreconcilable with reason and good conscience, for the people of these colonies to now take the necessary oaths and affirmations for the support of any government under the crown of Great Britain, and it is necessary to exercise all kinds. The authority under this crown should be entirely suppressed, and all the powers of government exercised, under the authority of the people of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order, as well as for their defense. life, liberty, and property,

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