The Declaration of Independence: The Preamble

Dr. Paul Carrese explains why the American colonies wanted independence from Great Britain, tracing the growing desire for freedom and self-governance from the 1760s through the formal Declaration of Independence. The episode examines how colonial frustrations with British rule evolved from protests, such as the Boston Tea Party, into armed conflict, culminating in the Continental Congress's decisive steps toward declaring independence.

• Colonial discontent began in the 1760s over Britain's "heavy hand," despite colonists' experience with self-government
• Physical confrontations escalated from the Boston Massacre to Lexington and Concord in 1775
• George Washington was selected as commander of American forces in June 1775, a full year before the Declaration
• The Declaration positioned independence within universal principles of justice based on "Laws of Nature and Nature's God"
• Jefferson's draft was revised by Franklin, Adams, and the Continental Congress, adding religious references
• The Declaration concludes with signers pledging "our lives, our fortunes, and our Sacred Honor" in support
• Future episodes will explore the complexity and coherence within this revolutionary document

Join in with lessons and with a copy of the Declaration. 

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Transcript

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Introducing the American Independence Question

Speaker 1 0:47

Hi , my name is Davin , I'm from Arizona and I'm a freshman in high school , and my question is why did the American colonies want to break away from Great Britain ? Thank you so much , davin , for that question . And today's expert , I want to introduce Dr Paul Carrese . Dr Carrese , can you introduce yourself for our audience ?

Speaker 2 1:09

Thank you , liz , it's great to be with you on Civics . In a Year I was the founding director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University and before that I was a professor of political science at the US Air Force Academy , asa civilian for 18 years . That's where I really began to focus my thinking and teaching and research about citizenship education , because the officers in training , so to speak , at the academy all take an oath to the Constitution . They don't take an oath to the president , to the chain of command , to the Congress , anything like that . They take an oath to the Constitution and therefore that raises the question well , what about the Declaration ? And where did all these ideas come from ? So I was really doing civic education for my 18 years as a professor of political science and then I've been very much focused on that at ASU since .

Speaker 2 2:02

So why did the American colonies want to break away from Great Britain ? It starts really in the 1760s at least , that the Americans who were experienced with self-government in the separate colonies . They had forms of government that we would recognize , colonial assemblies and basically legislatures and forms of local self-government . They were upset with the heavy hand of the imperial government in London , far away , the king and the parliament . So complaints began actually in the 1750s about the heavy hand of the British , far away but certainly from the 1760s . The Stamp Act you might be familiar with , and other taxes and

Colonial Grievances Against Britain

Speaker 2 2:53

the back and forth starts between the American colonies and the Imperial Center in London . And then things start to get violent at a certain point . You will have heard of the Boston Massacre , you will have heard of the Boston Tea Party . And this chain of more physical confrontation culminates in Lexington and Concord in 1775 . But let's not forget that the first Continental Congress meets in 1774 . Meets in 1774 . So the Americans are organizing and thinking in a way as 13 united colonies , or the initial ideas of this , in 1774 . And a delegate from Virginia in 1774 is a fellow named Washington , george Washington . And then when the Second Continental Congress is called for meeting in 1775 , spring of 1775 , george Washington is again a delegate from Virginia and he shows up in Philadelphia in his uniform service as a colonial officer in the Virginia forces from what we call the French and Indian War , the Seven Years' War from the late 1750s into the 1760s . So Washington shows up , lexington and Concord has already happened and he wants to show up from Virginia saying maybe the time for talking is over . He doesn't say why he's wearing his uniform

Washington's Role in Revolution

Speaker 2 4:29

, but there he is , and this is an enormous man , six feet four inches tall , looks very good in a uniform and it sends a signal that the southern colonies , far , far away from Massachusetts , are as interested in this as the northern colonies .

Speaker 2 4:43

In 1775 , the Second Continental Congress decides we have to have united American military forces and in June of 1775 , George Washington is selected by the Second Continental Congress as the first commander of the American Revolutionary Forces and he's sent to Boston . That's a year before July 4th , 1776 , that has happened . So after that , after George Washington has left , john Adams and a fellow named Thomas Jefferson and others in the Congress are moving toward the idea that we really are taking steps toward independence . The Olive Branch petition , other efforts are not working and finally in early 1776 , the momentum is really growing that we will have to declare independence . And then in the spring of 1776 , a committee is formed . Thomas Jefferson is on that committee , along with John Adams , benjamin Franklin , two others .

Speaker 2 5:53

It's a committee of five and we get this document that we call the Declaration of Independence . It's mostly Thomas Jefferson's draft , a few revisions made by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams on the committee , and then the Second Continental Congress as a whole makes some important revisions and we'll talk about those in the next

Birth of the Declaration

Speaker 2 6:15

few episodes . So let's look at the text of the Declaration and read along . In my copy of it it has the title of it the Unanimous Declaration of the 13 United States of America in Congress July 4th 1776 . So that's something right there . These are states and they are unanimous that they are the United States of America declaring independence . So something very formal is happening here and that , we'll see , is part of the reason they want to break away .

Speaker 1 6:57

And united in this is in lowercase , so it's not like if we're looking at a map today we see United States of America all capitalized as a proper noun , but in this it says united in lowercase . Why is that ?

Speaker 2 7:15

The Declaration has within it the ingredients of what we think of as the Constitution . It has the ingredients of a union the principle of federalism is there , the principle of the rule of law and forms of constitutionalism it's there , but , to use a big word , it's incipient , it's in beginning ingredients form , and so united as lowercase is not yet united as uppercase , at least in the title of the document . So then let's get to the . They're already doing something formal and they don't call themselves Americans , even though they've said the United States of America . But the formality is increased by the opening line when , in the course of human events comma , it becomes necessary . So these two signs , these are states . And then they've placed this political act of a declaration into a universal human context . This is not just about a bunch of people on the East Coast of what's called North America who are upset about something and some little political rebellion . This has a larger , universal significance and an argument is coming .

Speaker 2 8:42

There are reasons here and you can see at a glance . Well , this is not just a paragraph , this is not just a bumper sticker , this is a document . Well , this is not just a paragraph , this is not just a bumper sticker , this is a document , a declaration , and I'll add also , declaration was a term at English common law , a formal statement of protest criticizing a government for its failure to act according to law . It's another term for it is a remonstrance . A related term to it is a petition , but a declaration was a formal term in law , in the English common law , and that's how all the Anglo-Americans had governed themselves . It's called how the English and the British had governed themselves for hundreds and hundreds of years . So we're already getting the signal . This is really very formal . Okay , so then actually , liz , would you read the first paragraph , what's sometimes called the preamble to the Declaration , and then we'll talk about some important elements in it .

Speaker 1 9:42

Sure will

Analyzing the Declaration's Formal Language

Speaker 1 9:44

when , in the course of human events , it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume , among the powers of the earth , the separate and equal station by which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitles them . A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation" .

Speaker 2 10:10

Okay , thanks so much . I'm just going to move quickly through a couple of points , and we'll follow up in future episodes to make some more of these . Notice that it's one people who are so this reinforcing the federal make . One people , the American people . And why is it necessary to dissolve political bands ? Well , we get the argument coming immediately the laws of nature and nature's God are being invoked as a standard of justice . This has been violated by the British government and it's now necessary to separate in order to live up to and live according to those laws . And under those laws , peoples can assume among the powers of the earth a separate and equal station if the current government under which they're living is not living up to the principles of the laws of nature and nature's God . So that's a point right there and I'll talk about it more in future episodes .

Speaker 2 11:21

This is the first of four references to a divinity within the text of the Declaration of Independence . Thomas Jefferson's draft had this one , and this one only , so we'll talk about how the other three get added , why it's important Now to be fair to Jefferson , so to speak , on this point . He did , in the second paragraph , have a reference to all men created equal . So created implies a creator , but he didn't have the capital C creator in it . That was added by Congress . So just to quickly get the point about why separating , there are universal human reasons of justice that compel , make it necessary to be an independent people , separate from Britain . The reason part is important here , because laws of nature and nature's God is not a reference , say , to a particular divinity believed in by faith , it's not invoking a scripture like the Hebrew Bible , what the Christians call the Old Testament , it's not the New Testament , it's not the Koran of the Islamic revelation , it's a general enlightenment phrase with a long tradition , but it has some Christian influence . So we'll talk in future episodes about what that might mean . So the bigger point is there's reason , but reason in a very broad sense , being invoked as the grounds and then the mode of argument for separating from Britain .

Speaker 2 12:57

So the last sentence that you read , a decent respect to the opinions of mankind , all of it very rational , right , requires that this people should declare the causes which impel , which require , which force them to separate . So we get this rational argument and I guess I'll finish on the thought that , boy , the Declaration of Independence is important . If you're listening to this podcast . You already think it's important . But boy , it's a big , complicated thing . It's not that long to read through it , but it's got big ideas in it . And then some of the ideas at first glance might not fit together so easily . And I'll just finish with this thought the very last phrase of the Declaration of Independence is a pledge by the signers of it .

Speaker 2 13:54

The

Understanding the Laws of Nature's God

Speaker 2 13:54

56 who are at George Washington can't be a signer because they've already sent him off to fight right , but of the 56 who are there at the Second Congress on July 4th , it's a pledge we mute , you know , for support of this declaration , with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence capital P we mutually pledge to each other our lives , our fortunes and our sacred honor . Capital H and we've got to fit that together with this reference to the laws of nature and nature's God . This is reasoned argument . We're going to get to natural rights . We have fascinating work to do together to fit together all these big ideas , a complicated whole , and give them a chance to think this is not just a mess tossed together . This is a very serious , coherent argument with a lot at stake lives at stake , liberties at stake , fortunes at stake and sacred honor at stake .

Speaker 1 14:58

Thank you so much , dr Carrese . This is you know . Like you mentioned , we are going to really dive into this document in subsequent episodes and we invite our listeners to join us because , although this is a short document , there's so much depth in it and if you are Thomas Jefferson and you you're responsible for writing this you understand the gravity of it . So , thank you so much .