The Other Declarations of Independence
Colonial American Declarations Before July 4, 1776
Jul 16, 2009
When the year 1776 began, most American colonists did not favor separation from the mother country. Many were angry with the British government about what they considered violations of their rights as Englishmen – unjust taxes, unfair restraints on commerce, and other oppressive measures. But for the most part they directed their anger at the government ministers and other members of Parliament, rather than at King George III. There was widespread affection for the king, and a belief that if he would only reign in his ministers, good relations could be restored between Great Britain and the American colonies. But on January 10, 1776, there appeared in the bookshops of Philadelphia a pamphlet called Common Sense, by a recent immigrant to America named Thomas Paine. In simple but powerful language, Paine attacked the idea of kingship in general and King George III in particular. Common Sense was widely reprinted, sold, and passed from hand to hand, becoming the best-seller of its day (and in proportion to population, probably of any day since); and by spring, Americans throughout the colonies were encouraging, persuading, and instructing their representatives in the Continental Congress to declare independence.
Background of the Declaration of Independence in English History
Pauline Maier, in her book American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), discusses several of the forerunners of the Declaration which would have been well known to the Americans of 1776. The most noted of these was the Declaration of Rights of 1689, by which Parliament deposed King James II and installed William and Mary as joint sovereigns. To explain and justify the unseating of the former king, the Declaration of Rights listed thirteen specific charges against James II, asserting that he had acted in violation of the laws of the kingdom. This was the same style used later in many of the colonial declarations to explain and justify the separation from the kingdom of George III.
Declarations by Colonies, Counties, Towns, Militias, and Even a Union
The first official pronouncement came from the government of North Carolina. On April 12, 1776, the colonial legislature voted to send instructions to its delegates at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia to seek the agreement of the other colonies in declaring independence. Over the course of the next few weeks, similar instructions were adopted by at least eight other colonies, several counties, and dozens of towns. In addition, resolutions were passed by grand juries, militia companies, and the New York Mechanics Union.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights
Virginia, like several other colonies, not only committed itself to separation from Great Britain, but also began to set up a new form of government for its people. On May 15, 1776, the members of Virginia’s legislature, in addition to sending instructions to its delegates in Congress, also resolved that a plan of government be adopted and a Declaration of Rights be drafted. This Declaration, written largely by George Mason, was adopted on June 12, 1776, and proved to be among the most influential of all the predecessors to the Declaration of July 4. Its first three pronouncements became the basis of the later Declaration: “That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights;” “That all power is … derived from the people;” and “That government is … instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people….” Fifteen years later, when the Bill of Rights was added to the United States Constitution, the language of several of those rights was taken word for word from The Virginia Declaration of Rights.
Declarations before The Declaration
The American colonists were moving in the direction of greater independence from Great Britain throughout the early 1770s. They were pushed towards outright separation by the publication of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in January of 1776. When they realized that the Continental Congress was not keeping pace with their increasingly radical sentiments, they turned to their own local governments, producing scores of resolutions, instructions, and declarations to express their political opinions. When Thomas Jefferson was faced with the task of drafting a Declaration of Independence for the united colonies, his intent was not “to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent ...” (letter to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825). The Declaration adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, was, by design, an echo of those which had come before – an echo magnified by Jefferson’s soaring rhetoric.
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