Declaration Of Independence Meaning

The True Meaning of the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence states, “We [the Founding Fathers] hold these truths to be self-evident:-- That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (US 1776).” The Declaration of Independence was published on July 4, 1776, after seventeen days of deliberate debate about what would be the foreground of a new nation. The formal document, written by Thomas Jefferson, declared the freedom of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain and the tyrannical King George III. The Founding Fathers believed that there are certain unalienable rights, “life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness,” that should never be taken away. However, when a government fails to protect these individual rights, such as Britain, it is not only the citizen’s right, but their duty, to overthrow the government. Although this occurred over two hundred years ago, the thoughts and understanding of these concepts have not wavered an excessive amount. According to the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal.” Moreover, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are “unalienable rights” that remain key ideas in the foundation of our ideals and democracy. A pivotal concept of the Declaration of Independence is that “all men are created equal.” The Founding Fathers believed that people hold certain “unalienable rights” that are innate to all human beings. This notion stems from the idea of natural rights; human beings are naturally free to make their own choices and prosper from them. The phrase “all men are created equal” is a controversial expression even today. What did “all men” truly mean? To some it meant all of humanity and to others it meant excluding women, children, and natives. To those who assembled the Declaration in the 1700s, however, it meant that all white, wealthy, and land-owning males were equal. Even in modern times equality is a brash topic. Although most would like to believe that everyone, including women, immigrants, and African Americans, are equivalent in social status, the reality of parity is unfeasible. Thomas Jefferson, to whom the task of writing the Declaration of Independence fell to, understood “unalienable rights” as fixed rights given to humans by a Creator rather than a government. If something is unalienable, it cannot be taken away or denied; it is part of a person’s humanity. To have “unalienable rights” does not mean that they cannot be oppressed or attacked, but that such acts are immoral and there is reason for complaint. The “unalienable rights” that Jefferson speaks of are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The first inalienable right is life. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines life as “an opportunity for continued viability,” and that is what the Founding Fathers saw- life as an opportunity. It was an opportunity to reinvent one’s self and to choose how he or she wanted to impact the world. The Declaration asserts that human beings are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights (US 1776)” and that governments were created to protect those rights. As in many cases in the 1700s, religion was greatly persuasive in language and governmental documents. Although Thomas Jefferson was known to be one of the more religion-skeptical Founding Fathers, he knew that it was crucial to incorporate the Judeo-Christian God into the Declaration. Since the Creator had given life to man, and, when King George III failed to protect the colonists’ lives, he was going against God; Great Britain was essentially denying them their right to life. The second “unalienable right” is liberty. Liberty is defined as “the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges; the power to do as one pleases.” The modern connotation of liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political standpoint. However, to the Founders, liberty was seen as an unobstructed action according to one’s will within limits drawn around him or her by equal rights of others. Thomas Jefferson emphasized that liberty was not within the limits of the law because “law is often by the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” He strongly believed that liberty must be protected and preserved from any tyrannical forces that would seek to impose their will on any individual. Although the Founding Fathers acknowledged that equal liberty would not be achieved in their lifetime, they firmly agreed that it would be a generation’s destiny. Much like the Liberty Tree, a famous elm tree in Boston, Massachusetts, liberty was deeply rooted and long established. In 1765, Boston colonists orchestrated their first act of defiance against the British government at the Liberty Tree, and, for that reason, it held great importance in the migrants’ lives. The Founding Fathers did not see the Declaration of Independence as a quest for new liberties, but as a revolt against a government who was adamant on taking them away. Liberty was who they were, not who they were trying to become. The last of the inalienable rights is “the pursuit of happiness.” This concept was borrowed from John Locke, an English moral philosopher, who wrote “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” in 1690, almost ninety years before the Declaration of Independence was written.
Brent Strawn, a religion professor, believes that many people in modern day see the pursuit of happiness as “‘[having] to do with ‘seeking it’ or ‘going after it’ somehow.’” However, in the 1700s, the pursuit of happiness was not seen as just practicing how to be happy, but actually obtaining it. Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, “‘What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.’” The Founding Fathers believed that everyone had the right to be truly happy not just attempting to be. Happiness was not about self-satisfaction or stupefied pleasure, but more of living life to its full potential; it was a choice. Sadly, in today’s society happiness is not a choice for all. Those in poverty, or facing discrimination in one form or another, do not always have the choice to be happy. Mankind has created such a culture that it is almost impossible to truly be one’s self without being persecuted for it. Moreover, the Founding Fathers viewed Great Britain as denying them the right to choose happiness, once again taking away their “unalienable
rights.”
In conclusion, the Founding Fathers were adamant about the idea that “all men are created equal” and that humans have the “unalienable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” If a government threatens to take away these rights, then it is the people’s duty to overthrow said government in an effort to reclaim what is theirs.
Although society’s thoughts have changed from then to now, the ideas included in the Declaration of Independence are still the same. Writing the Declaration was seen as a form of rebellion, but to those writing it, it was a chance to reinvent themselves as a new nation, finally
free.