Question

Describe the significance of the Declaration of Independence. What was its immediate practical significance versus its more lasting significance? What philosophies influenced the ideas it contained?

Answer 1

Declaration of Independence is The most important in American history. It tells the ideas that the Founders had about the government. It also contains the Founders' complaints against the king.

after the colonists landed in the New World, the British government let the colonists govern themselves with little interference for many years. Then in the 1760's, Britain began to harden its control over the colonies. The British government began passing new laws which included taxes on the colonists and controlled their trade. The colonists thought these laws threatened their right to govern themselves. the colonists felt that their rights were not being protected beacuse they did not have the right to vote for people to represent them in the British government. The British felt the opposite. They believed that since their government supported the colonists, they had the right to tax them and control their trade.

So in 1774, the colonists sent their representatives to a meeting called -the First Continental Congress to decide how to handle this problem. Some of the delegates present in this meeting wanted to stop trading with Britain. Others wanted to fight against the British. In April 1775 war broke out between Britain and the American colonies and this war was called the American Revolution. The thirteen colonies became the thirteen original states of the country.

after the American Revolution began, the American colonists created a new government. In 1776 this new government, the Continental Congress formed a committee to tell People why those thirteen colonies wanted to be free. Thomas Jefferson was the head of this committee. He was an excellent writer. Jefferson wrote a piece of paper that became known as the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed by the members of the Continental Congress.

The Declaration of Independence is an important part of American democracy because first it contains the goals of the nation. Second it contains the complaints or disagreement of the colonists against the British king. Third, it contains the arguments of the colonists that they used to explain why they wanted to be free of British rule.

Declaration of Independence had a great significance to the American people because it is what led to their independence from King George III. The Declaration of Independence justified their right to revolt against a government that does not guarantee their rights. And it also helped them to increased foreign assistance from France in their fight to become free from King of England. The Declaration of Independence stated certain ideals or goals that the colonists believed were important for man, such as liberty and equality.

The Declaration includes the following quote “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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”? So the it was a way of telling the colonists that they were entitled to certain things and that the actions England was taking was proof enough that it did not believe everybody was created equal .

The Declaration also plays a significant role in our world today . It is because of the words in that document that women are now treated the same as men and that all races are treated equally. Without the words of their founding fathers some of the civil rights that have been passed might never have come to light. That is why the Declaration of Independence is so significant to everyone.

Philosophies that influenced -

. Two prominent thinkers, one directly and one indirectly, played a pivotal role in the founding of the United States. These men were Thomas Paine and John Locke.

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was an English-born political activist, author, and revolutionary who came to America to support the cause against the British. As the author of two highly influential pamphlets, The American Crisis and Common Sense, at the start of the American Revolution, he aimed to inspire the colonists to declare independence. Although his work influenced the Founding Fathers to some degree, he had a much greater impact on the common people, who, after reading these two works, became much more supportive. Although the push for American independence was already burning when Paine was writing, he certainly helped to kindle the flame.

John Locke

John Locke (29 August 1632 - 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers, specially concerning the development of political philosophy. His writings influenced most importantly, the American revolutionaries. Thomas Jefferson used the thoughts first penned by John Locke while writing the Declaration of Independence. The phrase "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness," was an idea first considered by Locke in his Two Treatises on Government.