Wow, this sheds a whole new light on things. In American schools, we are taught that the Declaration was addressed to the king because he was an easier target than Parliament. We are taught that it was actually Parliament that did all the wrongs listed in the Declaration, but that the Continental Congress deliberately targeted the king so that the world would be more sympathetic and it would be understandable, or some such. This twists that theory on its head. Thank you for the enlightening history lesson.
And I agree; the Declaration of Independence is nigh unto scripture. There is no doubt it was inspired by God. I personally believe that for those men, that was their true life's purpose, to write and to sign that document. Everything else was just dressing.
Thank you. As it happens, only a few days after I published this I found that in 1860 the representatives of an American state read the history of the Declaration as I do. When South Carolina began the great rush to secession, it released an "Ordnance" clearly modelled on the Declaration, if much longer. Among a great deal of very arguable law, and rather more verbiage than Jefferson had found necessary, there is this statement: In the year 1765, that portion of the British Empire embracing Great Britain, undertook to make laws for the government of that portion composed of the thirteen American Colonies. A struggle for the right of self-government ensued, which resulted, on the 4th of July, 1776, in a Declaration, by the Colonies, “that they are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.”This bears out my
( ... )
A sad fact is that the greatest Englishman of his time, Dr.Samuel Johnson, ended his career ingloriously with a pamphlet titled Taxation no Tyranny, which both promoted a highly dubious theory of the legal omnipotence of the State and manage to totally miss the point that whatever omnipotence he might find in Britain's Parliament, that omnipotence did not extend legally to the Colonies any more than it extended to Russia or Siam.
Comments 4
Reply
And I agree; the Declaration of Independence is nigh unto scripture. There is no doubt it was inspired by God. I personally believe that for those men, that was their true life's purpose, to write and to sign that document. Everything else was just dressing.
Reply
In the year 1765, that portion of the British Empire embracing Great Britain, undertook to make laws for the government of that portion composed of the thirteen American Colonies. A struggle for the right of self-government ensued, which resulted, on the 4th of July, 1776, in a Declaration, by the Colonies, “that they are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.”This bears out my ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment