Most Important Influence On The Declaration Of Independence

10/29/12 The Great Awakening This is a document based essay about the most important influence on The Declaration of Independence. The most important influence was The Great Awakening because it was an emotion packed Christian movement that went through the colonies between the 1730s and the 1740s. The Great Awakening was a cry for individual’s rights and independence. It led the People to be able to break away from tyranny. The ideas from The Great Awakening are what led to The Declaration of Independence. These ideas are what make The Declaration of Independence such a strong document and are the heart of the document. They are like the hard drive to a computer. The Declaration of Independence states that everyone has equal rights and those rights are given by God.
The philosophy of the government is to protect the rights of the people.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”- Declaration of Independence, 1776. God is the one who gave us our rights and that everyone is created equal, no matter what gender or color you are. No one can take our rights according to God and the Declaration of Independence. “Whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new forms of government.”- Declaration of Independence, 1776. If the Government does not obey God’s laws and the Peoples freedom, the Peoples can get rid of the Government and make a new one, as long as they believe they could do better. King George III did not respect God’s rules and took the freedom from the People of the Colonies. He had British soldiers live in people’s houses and made their lives terrible. After the Colonists won the war, people finally got
freedom. “For every man has an equal right to the preservation of his person and property; and so an equal right to establish law, or to nominate the makers and executors of the laws which are the guardians both of persons and property.”- The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants, Sermon by Reverend Elisha Williams, 1774. The Great Awakening supports that everyone has a right to their own property and everyone also has an equal right to create laws or to nominate people that will protect these laws. Jefferson decided to add this in the Declaration of Independence. King George III did not respect other people’s property and had the British soldiers invade people’s home. Thomas Jefferson used this idea of people having their own property and wrote it in the Declaration of Independence. The Great Awakening was the first source to have this idea written down. “For a nation thus abused to arise unanimously, and to resist their prince, even to dethroning him, is not criminal; but a reasonable way of indicating their liberties and just rights.”- On Unlimited Submission to Rulers, Sermon by Jonathan Mayhew, 1750. This statement from The Great Awakening basically says that if a prince is not giving the People their liberties and just rights, then they can rise up and dethrone him. Jefferson supports the same idea in the Declaration of Independence. It states that the People can institute a new form of government if the government is blocking their rights. The Great Awakening had a great impact on the Declaration of Independence. The Great Awakening brought the idea of owning your own property and getting rid of an unrighteous king or prince. The Great Awakening brought the idea of fighting for individual rights and freedom. The Declaration of Independence would not be complete without the Great Awakening. The Declaration of Independence without The Great Awakening is like the video game industry without Nintendo.