Response Paper to "Declaration of Independence"
It is nearly impossible for one nation to rule another with the absence of conflict. There reaches a point with every imperialist rule, when the colony begins to develop its own identity as a nation. For the thirteen British colonies in North America, 1776 was when all of these ideas of identity and independence came to a boiling point. Colonial leaders Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and many others believed that the best way to express the colonist's desire for independence was to release a document voicing their concerns. That document, entitled the Declaration of Iqndependence was effective in stating to both, the American colonists and the British government, the colonist's grievances with their colonial oppressors and the logical reason why independence is the only logical course of action.
The Declaration begins with the preamble, which outlines the basis behind the colonist's decision to separate from British rule.
Jefferson begins by stating outright that when a body of people decide to separate from their rulers, they must state the reasons for doing so. Jefferson then goes into the beginning of the reasons for independence. He explains that every man is "endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights" and when those rights are repeatedly infringed on by a government, it is the duty of the people to abolish that government.
The remainder of the Declaration includes a list of all the wrongdoings that the British government has done to the colonists. Included in the offenses listed is the quartering of british troops, taxation without representation and the dissolving of representative houses in the states. Jefferson mentions that with every one of the offenses, the colonists have tried to petition the government and warned the British that the such oppression would not be tolerated, yet...