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GVPT 377 Thought Piece 1 Jimmy Duffy 5/1/2012 The Social Compact and its Influence on the American Cause
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.” (Declaration of Independence, 1776)
This passage of the Declaration of Independence could be characterized, in my opinion, as the “pre amble” of the list of grievances that are the impetus for the colonist’s decision to break from the Crown of England and strike out on their own and govern themselves. “The longer second part of the document details Britain’s trespasses against the principles announced in the first part. This list is meant to justify the revolution by showing that British conduct toward America truly did violate the principles of just government as defined in that universal, theoretical statement.” (West, 2003) The DOI becomes the specific punch list of reasons that the colonists declare that makes the previous social compact between the colonies and the British Crown null and void because of this long list of grievances.
One particular passage rings to me to be the most important single focal point of the American Cause. “Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide for their future security.” (Declaration of Independence, 1776) The colonists are saying not only is it their right but it is their duty as informed and
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.” (Declaration of Independence, 1776)
This passage of the Declaration of Independence could be characterized, in my opinion, as the “pre amble” of the list of grievances that are the impetus for the colonist’s decision to break from the Crown of England and strike out on their own and govern themselves. “The longer second part of the document details Britain’s trespasses against the principles announced in the first part. This list is meant to justify the revolution by showing that British conduct toward America truly did violate the principles of just government as defined in that universal, theoretical statement.” (West, 2003) The DOI becomes the specific punch list of reasons that the colonists declare that makes the previous social compact between the colonies and the British Crown null and void because of this long list of grievances.
One particular passage rings to me to be the most important single focal point of the American Cause. “Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide for their future security.” (Declaration of Independence, 1776) The colonists are saying not only is it their right but it is their duty as informed and
References: Diamond, Martin. The Founding of Democratic Republic. Michigan: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 1981 Holloway, C. (2011). Who Are We?: Samuel Huntington and the Problem of American Identity. Perspectives On Political Science, 40(2), 106-114. doi:10.1080/10457097.2011.572043 Pestritto, R. J., & West, T. G. (2003). American Founding and the Social Compact. Lexington Books. Risjord, N. K. (1973). Forging the american republic:1760-1815. (1st ed., p. 171). Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.