The Objectives of the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence boldly declares that America is now a separate nation from Britain and states the purpose of this new country, making it a cornerstone of our founding. To understand and protect American identity, we must start with the Declaration of Independence. While America is undoubtedly a home, it is also defined by the significance of this document and what it teaches us about our rights and responsibilities as citizens. It clearly outlines the principles of politics, lawful government, the ground of liberty, and why the former English colonists were asserting their right to govern themselves in response to a long history of abuse by the British government.

The Declaration proclaims that the “thirteen united States of America” now “assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” It is a statement about the type of politics and order under which the “United Colonies” would operate and why they were rejecting British rule.

The Americans believed there were certain “self-evident” truths about the rights of human persons and that a government derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed.” They also believed that if they were subjected to “any Form,” of government that was “destructive of these ends” — and the colonists concluded this described the British monarchy — it was “the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The Declaration lays out the political principles worthy of free and virtuous people and concludes that these principles have been violated. The actions of the British King showed a clear intent of despotic ambition, and the colonists, by right and duty, decided they would not submit to it. Instead, they declared their independence as a people. God — “the laws of nature and of Nature’s God” — justified this bold step. Understanding that signing this document was almost like signing their death warrants if the British succeeded, fifty-six brave individuals from all colonies signed the Declaration of Independence, stating that “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

One of the most influential Supreme Court jurists in American history, Chief Justice John Marshall — whose time on the Court lasted from 1801 to 1835, during which he authored key opinions on essential constitutional issues in the early republic — reflected on the Declaration in a letter to Edward Everett, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and later president of Harvard.

Our resistance was not made to actual oppression. Americans were not pressed down to the earth by the weight of their chains nor goaded to resistance by actual suffering. . . . The war was a war of principle against a system hostile to political liberty, from which oppression was to be dreaded, not against actual oppression.^¹

Over more than 150 years, the English colonists in North America developed a deep understanding of political liberty. They exercised self-governance through colonial assemblies and law courts and gained practical experience with a common law constitution’s rights and practices. The term “salutary neglect,” introduced by Edmund Burke in Parliament in 1775, accurately describes this era of minimal regulation of the colonists’ internal affairs and trade, which was maintained in exchange for their loyalty to Britain. During this time, the colonists learned to govern themselves, creating various commercial, professional, civic, and religious networks and organizing their lives independently of government oversight. This evolution led to an inevitable question: If they could govern themselves successfully and flourish, why was the British government still necessary for the colonists?

The colonists were not anarchists, far from it. Their shared experiences highlight a dual meaning of “self-government,” which Thomas Jefferson articulately expressed in the Declaration. They believed self-government meant the capacity to cooperate voluntarily, based on individuals’ natural and moral instincts. Consequently, they chose a republican system with checks and limits on government power to allow civil society’s voluntary arrangements to flourish without excessive interference from an arbitrary ruler who could suppress them. This fundamental distinction between the state and society underpins our constitutional framework, emphasizing balanced and limited government.

The Declaration is a practical document authored by pragmatic men facing their most serious decision. All good decisions result from a combination of principles and circumstances. Most of the Declaration details the circumstances that prompted the Founders to sever ties with Britain. One sentence in the second paragraph presents five self-evident truths, each building on the previous. The Declaration states these truths are “self-evident.” This does not mean they are obvious, but that they contain their own proof. For example, triangles are made of three lines because being a triangle inherently involves three lines; once the concept of a triangle is understood, its composition is evident. The founders believed that these five truths, which justified risking everything, are self-evident.

The foundational claim, upon which all others depend, is that “all men are created equal.” Is this true? We can easily see that we are not all equal; some are strong, while others are weak. Some are wise, others foolish. Some are good, others wicked. Throughout history, such differences have often influenced political power, as people have justified ruling others by claiming they were the strongest, wisest, or most virtuous, or by asserting some other superior trait.

However, one fundamental way in which all people are equal is that we are all human beings. This is obvious: if you and I are both human, then our humanity is equal. Whatever defines what it means to be human applies equally to both of us. As John Adams once explained to his son:

[The Declaration’s first claim] really means little more than that We are all of the same Species: made by the same God: possessed of Minds and Bodies alike in essence: having all the same Reason, Passions, Affections, and appetites. All Men are Men and not Beasts: Men and not Birds: Men and not Fishes. The infant in the Womb is a Man, and not a Lyon. . . . All these are Men and not Angells: Men and not Vegetables, etc. . . . The Equality of Nature is a moral Equality only; an Equality of Rights and Obligations; nothing more.^²

All human beings are equally human, but what exactly do we all share from the moment of our creation? The definition of man embraced by the founders and the Western tradition since its origins is that man is a “rational animal.”

Because humans, like animals and birds, are bodies made of matter, they have essential needs: food to survive, protection from predators, and a partner to continue their lineage. Like all animals, they are driven by strong instincts to satisfy these needs. However, these needs can also conflict with those of others of their own species, whose needs are just as urgent.

Humans are unique among animals because they possess rational thought. A key indicator is their ability to use words to describe things as they are, rather than just making noises to express feelings such as pleasure, pain, desire, or anger. Unlike other animals, humans can extend themselves beyond their own needs and impulses. They recognize others not merely as objects for personal use but as individuals to understand and love. Humans can also aspire toward the highest good — the ultimate goal beyond any specific object — and choose to forego immediate satisfaction in pursuit of that higher purpose. Living this way involves achieving a higher and more beautiful purpose than any other animal can: attaining happiness. Today, the word “happiness” often means feelings of gladness or contentment, but at the time of the Founding, it held a much deeper significance. To be happy was to thrive as fully as possible, with things going as well as they could. While life and liberty are essential for happiness — since we cannot be happy if we are not alive and free to seek it — they are not enough alone. Happiness encompasses life and liberty, filling them like a child fills a womb.

The Declaration’s astonishing claim is that all human beings have the right to pursue happiness. No person is just a means to someone else’s happiness; each of us — whether strong or weak, wise or foolish, virtuous or wicked — exists to become happy and thus has a right to pursue it, along with the life and liberty that are its prerequisites. To trample on these rights is to dispute with our Creator, who intended each of us for happiness by making us human.

Seeing what it truly means to thrive as a human being reveals that this should be the goal of all our actions and, consequently, our political life. A government that is true to its purpose aims for the happiness of each citizen — yet it sometimes falls short. Rulers share the same needs and instincts as all other men, which can sometimes distort their judgment. One key reason governments derive their “just powers” from the “consent of the governed,” as the Declaration states, is that they can only remain loyal if the people freely choose their leaders. There is another reason: humans can distinguish between the bad, the good, and the best, and this ability lies at the core of politics. Every individual has the right to use this ability by contributing their best practical wisdom to the community’s decision-making process.

What follows from these truths is the fifth and final claim of the Declaration: that men have the right to overthrow their government and establish a new one when necessary to protect the rights that a just government exists to serve. That, of course, is what the founders did in the Declaration and what they proved with their blood and toil in the Revolution that was already underway. The rest of the document explains that breaking their loyalty to the British Crown was, in fact, necessary to safeguard their rights, given the circumstances they faced. These self-evident truths reveal what the Declaration says about man and are essential for understanding the document. However, to grasp its full nature, purpose, and significance, the entire document must be read as a whole, building on these truths.

The Declaration of Independence states reasons for action and officially justifies the Continental Congress’s July 2, 1776, decision to break away from Great Britain. The Declaration explains the reasons for independence by clarifying the causes that drove the “united States” to separate and form a new political body. Jefferson and the drafting committee did not begin with a blank slate in fulfilling the charge given to them by Congress. A significant number of documents, including the Magna Carta of 1215, the Petition of Right of 1628, and the Declaration of Rights of 1689, listed Crown abuses against subjects’ rights and successfully sought reform.

Jefferson found the Declaration of Rights significant because it listed the charges against King James II and secured the rights that the next king was bound to protect. This led to the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which Jefferson relied upon in writing his Summary View of the Rights of British America, which he used to shape his initial draft of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson’s Summary View was similar to the English Bill of Rights, with one key difference. While the English document based its arguments solely on legal history and grievances, Jefferson combined the colonies’ grievances with an appeal to natural rights and natural law. Jefferson rejected Parliament’s claims of authority over the colonies, grounded in history and natural rights. The Americans, like their Saxon ancestors who left various parts of continental Europe to settle in England, did not owe loyalty to their former rulers. According to Jefferson, this fundamental right, “which nature has given to all men,” allowed Americans to leave “from the country in which chance, not choice, has placed them, of going in quest of new habitations, and of there establishing new societies, under such laws and regulations as to them shall seem most likely to promote public happiness.”

The declarations and resolves approved by the First Continental Congress in 1775 were heavily influenced by Jefferson’s grievances outlined in the Summary View. They asserted that the colonies possessed rights to life, liberty, and property “by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts. . . . ” The Crown dismissed the document, and violent clashes soon followed at Lexington and Concord when British forces attacked American arsenals. This event prompted the Second Continental Congress to issue the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, explaining why the colonists found themselves in this position. The document states that “[b]y one statute it is declared, that parliament can ‘of right make laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever’ [referring to the Declaratory Act of 1766],” and questions, “What is to defend us against so enormous, so unlimited, power?”

The conflict persisted, and on June 11, 1776, Congress decided to create a committee to draft a declaration of independence. The committee members included Jefferson, John Adams from Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman from Connecticut, and Robert Livingston from New York. Adams later recalled that Jefferson initially wanted him to write the document, but he declined for several reasons, mainly because “I had great Opinion of the Elegance of his pen and none at all of my own.” ³

Jefferson drew inspiration from his Summary View, his preamble to the Virginia draft constitution (ratified on June 22, 1776), and the Virginia Bill of Rights, drafted by George Mason and adopted ten days prior. The similarities between parts of these texts — especially Jefferson’s preamble — and the Declaration are clear. Mason’s Virginia Bill of Rights also shares a notable resemblance.

That all men are born equally free and independent and have certain inherent natural Rights, of which they cannot, by any Compact, deprive or divest their Posterity; among which are the Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of Acquiring and possessing property, pursuing and Obtaining Happiness and Safety.

Jefferson noted that the “similitude” between the Declaration and Mason’s Bill of Rights lay in their shared purpose of both documents: “justifying our separation from Great Britain.”

In drafting the Declaration, Jefferson stated he did not aim “at originality of principle or sentiment” but merely provided “an expression of the American mind.” John Adams noted that the Declaration reflected the common views of the day and praised it for that reason. The Declaration’s uniqueness lies in its rhetorical elegance, its role in severing Americans from Britain, creating a new model that is universally applicable for building political societies, and clarifying who Americans are as a people. In defining America’s core principles, the Declaration becomes the first part of our national compact, making it essential to the founding of the United States.

Professor Paul Seaton observes in his book Public Philosophy and Patriotism that the Declaration is an American epic poem that speaks to the depths of our political soul:

The Declaration makes clear that even revolutionary action can be warranted. But it also lays down strict criteria for such action. It thus cautions boldness to tether itself to principled, prudential reason, while challenging reason to entertain thoughts of both the worst and the boldest. Possible despotism is perhaps the greatest challenge for political reason. The Declaration wants us to get it right.⁴

A document of this scope and importance has great potential to decisively shape the public conversation, and the Declaration has accomplished that in American history. The Declaration of Independence established the United States on a revolutionary foundation without obligating America to ongoing revolution. The document is based on the equality of human beings as rational creatures to break free from a government that threatens their “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Declaration was built on centuries of law, history, philosophy, and theology that inspired the Second Continental Congress to ratify and proclaim the document. The Congress’s bravery and insight are forever reflected in the Declaration of Independence, establishing America as a new nation committed to liberty and law. The ideas and arguments in the Declaration are timeless; they remain true across each generation of Americans. They are our heritage and a source of pride and living memory that must — and will — continue to guide us as we live as citizens of this great country.

¹ Letter from John Marshall to Edward Everett, August 2, 1826, quoted in R. Kent Newmyer, John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001), 1.

² John Adams’s Letter to Charles Adams, February 24, 1794.

³ Julian P. Boyd, The Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text as Shown in Facsimiles of Various Drafts by Its Author, Thomas Jefferson (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1945), 10

⁴ Paul Seaton, Public Philosophy and Patriotism: Essays on the Declaration and Us (South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press, 2024), 49.

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