The Declaration of Independence, Lesson 5: The Text, Clause by Clause

How the Declaration Is Built

The Declaration of Independence has about 1,320 words in the form adopted on July 4, 1776, from "When in the Course of human events" to "our sacred Honor."¹ It has five parts that a reader can mark off without difficulty. A single sentence of 71 words states why the document exists. A statement of principles follows, running through "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world." A list of 27 charges comes next, 18 beginning "He has" or a similar form and 9 beginning "For." A paragraph on petitions and one on "our Brittish brethren" follow. A last sentence declares independence and ends with the pledge.¹² Lesson 3 gives the word counts of the parts.

This lesson goes through the text in order and, for each phrase, sets out what earlier documents the delegates had in front of them. The earlier documents are the Declaration and Resolves of 1774, the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms of 1775, the Virginia instructions of May 15, 1776, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 12, 1776, Jefferson's own draft constitution for Virginia of June 1776, English statutes such as the Bill of Rights of 1689, and the writers the delegates knew, chiefly John Locke and William Blackstone. For each, the lesson quotes what the earlier text says and leaves it to the reader to see the resemblance.

Jefferson himself said the Declaration was not meant to be original. In 1825 he wrote that its object was "Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject," and that it was "intended to be an expression of the American mind."³ That is a recollection written almost fifty years later, and it fits what the earlier documents show. When this lesson says a phrase "resembles" an earlier one, it means the wording is close enough to show a shared vocabulary. It does not show that Jefferson or Congress copied that source. No document read for this lesson says which source a given phrase came from.

One more point about method. The Declaration does not contain the word "Parliament," the word "slave," the word "Lord," or a capitalized "Constitution."¹ Many readers expect some of those words, and the absence is a fact about the text. The charges against Parliament are made without naming it, in phrases such as "a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution" and "their legislature." The King is named once, in "The history of the present King of Great Britain."¹

The Opening: "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"

The first sentence reads: "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 to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."¹ It states a purpose, and it does so before it states any principle. The purpose is to give reasons to an audience, "mankind," and not to a court or to the King.

The phrase "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" has two parts. Blackstone's Introduction to the Commentaries says that the law of nature is "co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other," and that "no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this." It names "the law of nature and the law of revelation" as the two foundations on which "depend all human laws."⁴ Locke, in the Second Treatise, writes that "The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it."⁵ The First Congress had already grounded its claim in the same place, saying the colonists had their rights "by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts."⁶ Jefferson in 1774 had written that colonists held "rights, as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate."⁷

The language of the first sentence is more specific than a general appeal. "One people" asserts that the colonists are a people, a claim with consequences, because a people can have a government of its own. "Separate and equal station" is the language of a state among states, and the closing paragraph of the Declaration returns to it with "Free and Independent States" and "all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do."¹ The title sets the same tone. The Journal of July 4 and the engrossed copy head the text "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America," and the word "unanimous" was in the title on July 4 though New York's delegates had not voted. Lesson 4 gives that history.⁸

"A decent respect to the opinions of mankind" appears in Jefferson's original draft in nearly the same words, ending "the causes which impel them to the change" where the adopted text has "the separation."⁹ The idea of an audience beyond the empire had been stated before: Paine wrote in Common Sense that "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind."¹⁰ The Declaration does not quote Paine, and no document read for this lesson says that Jefferson or Congress had the passage in mind.

The Self-Evident Truths

The second paragraph begins: "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."¹ Each clause has an earlier form.

"All men are created equal." Locke begins his account of the state of nature with "a state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another," and says that creatures "promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature" should "be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection."⁵ The Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 12, 1776, drafted by George Mason, opens: "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights."¹¹ Jefferson's original draft read "that all men are created equal & independant."¹² The committee's report of June 28 already read "that all men are created equal," so the shortening to the adopted form was made before Congress took up the text.¹³ Lesson 3 shows that the sources do not settle whose hand made the change from "sacred and undeniable" to "self-evident."

"Endowed by their Creator." In the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms of 1775, Congress had written that "a reverance for our Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all those who reflect upon the subject, that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind."¹⁴ Locke's account of the state of nature rests on the claim that men are "the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker."⁵ The Declaration uses one word for the source of rights, "Creator." That word appears once.¹

"Certain unalienable Rights." The Declaration and Resolves of 1774 said the colonists "have never ceded to any foreign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent," and claimed rights as "indubitable rights and liberties, which cannot be legally taken from them, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent."⁶ The Virginia Declaration of Rights speaks of "inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity," and of an "unalienable" right to reform government.¹¹ Jefferson's draft read "inherent & inalienable"; the report read "[certain] [inherent and] inalienable"; and the adopted text reads "certain unalienable."¹²¹³¹ "Inalienable" and "unalienable" were both in use, and nothing in the sources read explains which spelling Congress meant to prefer.

"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This is the best-known sequence of the text, and its earlier forms differ from it. The First Congress claimed "life, liberty and property."⁶ Locke's formula is "his life, liberty and estate."¹⁵ Mason's text names "the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."¹¹ Blackstone writes that God "has graciously reduced the rule of obedience to this one paternal precept, 'that man should pursue his own happiness.'"⁴ Jefferson's draft read "among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness."¹² The Declaration drops "property" from the list and uses "pursuit of Happiness." The sources read do not say why. Anyone who writes that the Declaration "changed property to happiness" should add that the 1776 documents used both lists, since Mason's draft, adopted a few weeks earlier, names both.¹¹

Idaho's constitution carries the same sequence. Article I, section 1, says "All men are by nature free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property; pursuing happiness and securing safety."¹⁶ The wording is close to Mason's section I of 1776.¹¹ The Idaho text keeps both property and happiness, as Mason's did.

Consent, Alteration and the "Long Train of Abuses"

The next sentences carry the argument for government and for changing it: "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ---That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."¹

Consent. Locke's section 95 says that "no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent."¹⁵ The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 resolved that "no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives."¹⁷ Mason's section II reads "all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants."¹¹ Jefferson's 1774 pamphlet said "kings are the servants, not the proprietors of the people."⁷ The adopted phrase "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" is in the report of June 28 in that form.¹³

Alter or abolish. Mason's section III says that when a government is "inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it."¹¹ Locke, in section 149, says the people keep "a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative, when they find the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them."¹⁸ The words "alter or to abolish" are very near Mason's "reform, alter or abolish," which was adopted 22 days before the Declaration.¹¹ Idaho's constitution, art. I, sec. 2, says "All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform or abolish the same whenever they may deem it necessary."¹⁹

Prudence and the train of abuses. The Declaration then adds a caution: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." Locke's section 230 says "the people, who are more disposed to suffer than right themselves by resistance, are not apt to stir."²⁰ The Declaration continues: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government." Locke's section 225 says "if a long train of abuses, prevarications and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people ... it is not to be wondered, that they should then rouze themselves."²⁰ The resemblance in vocabulary is striking: "long train of abuses," "all tending the same way" and "pursuing invariably the same Object." The Declaration's sentence is not a quotation. It adds "it is their duty," which the passage of Locke quoted here does not contain.

The next sentence turns from principle to charge: "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."¹ Jefferson's original had "a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations."⁹ The reasoning in the paragraph follows the argument that government exists for ends, and that a design to defeat the ends justifies change. The list that follows is offered as the facts that make out the design.

The Indictment: Why the King Is the Defendant

The 27 charges accuse the King and not Parliament. The text of the Declaration contains no reference to Parliament by name.¹ Some of its charges concern acts of Parliament, and the charges say so only in terms such as "he has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation."¹ That construction follows an argument the colonists had developed over the previous decade. The First Congress in 1774 had claimed "a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures ... subject only to the negative of their sovereign." It had consented to acts of Parliament "bonafide, restrained to the regulation of our external commerce," and had excluded "every idea of taxation internal or external."⁶ On that view Parliament had no authority over the colonies except by consent, and the connection that remained was to the Crown. The Declaration's charges therefore run to the King. The Declaratory Act of 1766, which claimed power "to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America ... in all cases whatsoever," had said the opposite.²¹

The English Bill of Rights of 1689 had used a similar form. It listed the acts of "the late King James the Second" as the grounds for the settlement of the Crown, including "dispensing with and suspending of laws and the execution of laws without consent of Parliament," "levying money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative," and "raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace without consent of Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law," and it recited that James had "abdicated the government."²² The Declaration of 1776 follows that structure: a list of royal acts offered as the reasons the King has lost the right to govern, ending in a statement that he "has abdicated Government here."¹ Jefferson's own notes of the debate of June 1776 attribute to the side of Adams, Lee and Wythe the argument that "allegiance and protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is withdrawn," and that James II's "actions proved" he had left the protection of the people just as the King's did.²³

The 27 charges fall into four groups, which the next sections take in order. Ten concern colonial government and the courts: the veto, the legislatures, population and lands, justice, judges and offices. Three concern the army and the claim of a foreign jurisdiction. Nine, all beginning "For," concern acts of others to which he was "giving his Assent": quartering, trial, trade, taxes, juries, transport, Quebec, charters and the claim to legislate "in all cases whatsoever." Five concern the war itself.¹

The word choices also tell a reader about the audience. The charges are stated in short sentences with no argument, because the paragraph that introduces them says "let Facts be submitted to a candid world." Each charge is a single factual claim that readers in Britain, France or the colonies could check.

Charges 1 to 13: Government, Courts and the Military

Jefferson's June 1776 draft constitution for Virginia opens with a preamble that lists acts of "George Guelf king of Great Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover." The list overlaps the Declaration's list, in many places word for word.²⁴ The table below sets each of the first thirteen charges of the Declaration against the earlier statements this lesson found. Where the sources read show nothing earlier, the table says so.

Two points follow from the table. Nine of the first thirteen charges, numbers 1 to 3, 5 to 7 and 11 to 13, have counterparts in the draft constitution, several of them in nearly the same words. Numbers 4 and 8 to 10 have none, and they are four of the eight charges in the Declaration that the draft constitution lacks.²⁴ The comparison does not say which text came first. The draft constitution is dated "June, 1776," and the Declaration was drafted between June 11 and June 28.²⁴²⁸

Charges 14 to 22: "For" Clauses on Acts Passed with the King's Assent

The nine "For" clauses are grammatically a continuation of "giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation." Each is a short statement of an act or measure. The next table sets them beside the earlier documents. The Resolves of 1774 name most of the acts, and this lesson read the Resolves but not each act they name, so the identification of a clause with a particular act below is that of the Resolves where the Resolves make it, and otherwise the customary reading, which the table says.⁶

Of the nine, six have counterparts in the draft constitution. The "mock Trial" clause, the clause on Quebec and the clause on charters, numbers 15, 20 and 21, do not.²⁴ The Declaration has those three clauses and the draft constitution does not, and the First Congress had named the acts behind all three in 1774.⁶ The table shows how closely the 1774 Resolves and the 1775 Declaration of Causes match what the Declaration says: nearly every "For" clause can be found in at least one of them.

Charges 23 to 27: The War Charges

The last five charges concern the war that had been under way since April 1775. They also have earlier forms, the closest being the Virginia Convention's preamble of May 15, 1776.

"He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us." The Virginia preamble says "By a late act all these Colonies are declared to be in rebellion, and out of the protection of the British Crown" and that the King's representative "hath not only withheld all the powers of Government from operating for our safety."³² Draft constitution: "finally by abandoning the helm of government and declaring us out of his allegiance & protection."²⁴ The Prohibitory Act, which declared ships trading with the colonies forfeit "as if the same were the ships and effects of open enemies," was read by John Adams as an act that "throws thirteen colonies out of the royal protection."²⁹ Rhode Island's act of May 4, 1776 said allegiance and protection are reciprocal.³³ The 1689 Bill of Rights used the word "abdicated" for James II.²²

"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." The 1775 Declaration of Causes says the colonies "now feel, and all of them are sure of feeling ... the complicated calamities of fire, sword and famine."¹⁴ The draft constitution has "by plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns and destroying the lives of our people," the same sentence in the active form.²⁴

"He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries." The Virginia preamble says "the aid of foreign troops engaged," and the draft constitution has "by transporting at this time a large army of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation & tyranny," which the Declaration follows closely, adding "begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages."³²²⁴¹ A secondary source states that the British "had hired German auxiliary troops known as Hessians."²⁹ Lesson 3 shows that "scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages" was an addition made by Congress.³⁴

"He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country." The Virginia preamble says "our people, when captivated, compelled to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and countrymen."³² The draft constitution does not have this charge.²⁴ This lesson did not find the provision of British law that the charge relies on. The Prohibitory Act article read for this lesson says nothing about seized crews, and the charge is unconfirmed here against the statute.²⁹

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages." The 1775 Declaration of Causes says "schemes have been formed to excite domestic enemies against us" and that the governor of Canada was "instigating the people of that province and the Indians to fall upon us."¹⁴ The draft constitution has "by endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, & conditions of existence," which the Declaration follows closely, without "of existence."²⁴¹ The first half of the adopted charge, "domestic insurrections," stands where Jefferson's draft had the passage about slavery and the slave trade, which Congress struck. Virginia's May 15 preamble complains that the royal governor was "tempting our slaves by every artifice to resort to him, and training and employing them against their masters."³² Lesson 3 covers the struck passage.

The wording of the last charge is hard for a modern reader. "Merciless Indian Savages" is the 1776 text. This lesson quotes it as it stands in the adopted text and takes no position on the charge beyond what the documents show: the Congress of 1775 had accused the governor of Canada of instigating the Indians, and Jefferson's own draft used the same sentence.¹⁴²⁴

Petitions and the "Brittish Brethren"

After the 27 charges the Declaration says: "In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."¹ The right to petition was one the colonists had claimed: the 1774 Resolves, resolve 8, claim "a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king," and say "all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal."⁶ The 1689 Bill of Rights says "it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal."²² The Olive Branch Petition of July 1775 is the best known of the petitions; the colonial agents were told in September 1775 that "as his Majesty did not receive it on the throne, no answer would be given," according to a secondary source.³⁵ Draft constitution: "by answering our repeated petitions for redress with a repetition of injuries."²⁴ Idaho's constitution protects the same right today, saying the people have the right "to petition the legislature for the redress of grievances."³⁶

The next paragraph addresses the British people: "Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity ... They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."¹ The 1775 Declaration of Causes had said the colonists wanted that "our attachment to no nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty."¹⁴ Jefferson's original had the sentence about the enemies in war and friends in peace with a different verb: "we must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and to hold them as we hold the rest of mankind."¹² Congress cut the longer passage that preceded it, as Lesson 3 shows. The adopted paragraph has 117 words by Lesson 3's count.³⁴²

The Conclusion: Declaring, Appealing and Pledging

The last sentence begins: "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved."¹

"Free and Independent States." The core of the declaration is the language of the Lee resolution, which the Journal of July 2 records: "these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them, and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."³⁷ That language in turn follows the Virginia instruction of May 15, which told the delegates to propose that Congress "declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain."³² The Declaration drops "Parliament" from the clause and keeps the Crown. Adams's letter to his wife of July 3 quotes the resolution passed on July 2 with a second clause: "and as such, they have, and of Right ought to have full Power to make War, conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do."³⁸ The Journal text of July 2 does not have that clause, and the adopted Declaration has a version of it: "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."¹ This lesson could not tell whether Adams was quoting the resolution as adopted, a draft of it or his own paraphrase.

"In the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies." The delegates claim to speak for the people of the colonies and not for the assemblies or the Crown. The Virginia instruction spoke of "the Delegates appointed to represent this Colony."³⁹ Jefferson's original read "in the name & by authority of the good people of these states." Ford's printing of the reported draft shows "colonies" after a bracketed "states."¹²⁴⁰ Lesson 4 shows the instructions on which the delegates acted. Pennsylvania's provincial conference, for example, declared its willingness on June 25 "to concur in a vote of Congress."⁴¹

"Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world." Congress added the phrase. The Virginia preamble of May 15 had said "appealing to the Searcher of hearts for the sincerity of former declarations."³² The 1775 Declaration of Causes had ended "With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe."¹⁴ Locke's section 168 says that where the people have no judge on earth, "they have a liberty to appeal to heaven."⁴² The Declaration does not say which of these it follows.

"With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence." This phrase also came from Congress.³⁴ The 1775 Declaration of Causes had acknowledged "the Divine favour towards us, that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy until we were grown up to our present strength."¹⁴ The Declaration has four references to the divine in all: "Nature's God," "Creator," "Supreme Judge" and "divine Providence," each once.¹

"Our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Jefferson's draft had "we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honour."¹² The pledge is the final act of the document, and it names the three things the signers put at risk. The phrase has an echo in New York's resolution of July 9, in which the New York convention said it would "at the risque of our lives and fortunes, join with the other colonies in supporting it."⁴³

Rules for Quoting and Attributing the Text

A reader who uses the Declaration in an article, a speech or a classroom can follow a few rules drawn from what the sources show.

Say which text. The adopted text has "unalienable," and Jefferson's drafts have "inalienable." Cite the National Archives transcription for the adopted text, and say if you are quoting a draft.¹¹³

Do not credit one source for a phrase. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" resembles Locke's "life, liberty and estate," the First Congress's "life, liberty and property," Mason's "life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety," and Blackstone's "pursue his own happiness."¹⁵⁶¹¹⁴ No source read for this lesson says which of these, if any, Jefferson had in mind.

Keep the charges and their sources apart. The charges cite acts of Parliament without naming it. For a charge such as the "mock Trial" clause, say that the identification with an act is customary if you have not read the act.⁶

Mark what is unconfirmed. This lesson could not confirm the source of the charge that captives were forced to bear arms against their country, the act behind the "mock Trial" clause or the origin of the charge about distant legislative meeting places.²⁹⁶²⁵

Do not turn the text into something it is not. The Declaration does not contain the words "Parliament," "slave" or "Constitution," and it mentions God only as "Nature's God" and, in the closing, through "Creator," "Supreme Judge" and "divine Providence."¹ A statement that it "says" something not in those words should be checked against the transcription.

Key Documents

The documents below are the texts this lesson sets against the Declaration. The Declaration is first; the rest are the earlier statements it resembles.

Why This Matters to Idaho Officials and Voters

Idaho's constitution carries the vocabulary of the Declaration in its first three sections of Article I, the Declaration of Rights. Section 1 reads: "All men are by nature free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property; pursuing happiness and securing safety."¹⁶ Section 2 reads: "All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform or abolish the same whenever they may deem it necessary."¹⁹ Section 10 protects the right "to instruct their representatives, and to petition the legislature for the redress of grievances."³⁶

The wording of section 1 is close to section I of Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 12, 1776.¹¹ A voter who wants to know where the Idaho text comes from can read both side by side. The Idaho text keeps "property" and "happiness" and puts the rights of "enjoying and defending life and liberty" first, as Mason did.

Two practical points follow for officials and voters. A speaker who says the Idaho constitution "guarantees the pursuit of happiness" can be checked against section 1, which says the people have "certain inalienable rights, among which are" that and others. A speaker who says the Declaration "is part of Idaho law" should be asked for the provision. The Declaration's text and the Idaho Constitution are two documents, and the lessons on the Declaration and the Constitution look at how they relate.

Using This in Reporting and Civic Life

A reporter quoting "unalienable"

Reporter Carla Mendes of an invented newspaper is writing about a school board meeting where a trustee quotes the Declaration. She checks the quotation against the National Archives transcription, which reads "certain unalienable Rights," and notes that Jefferson's drafts read "inalienable." She quotes the adopted text and adds a sentence about the spelling.¹¹³

A teacher on Locke and Jefferson

Teacher Owen Fischer of an invented school asks students to find the sources of "long train of abuses." He gives them section 225 of Locke's Second Treatise and the Declaration's sentence. Students find the words "long train of abuses" and "all tending the same way" in Locke. Owen asks what the Declaration adds. They find "it is their duty." He points out that the sources do not say Jefferson had Locke open on his desk.²⁰¹

A commissioner and the word "slave"

County Commissioner Priya Nair of an invented Idaho county hears a speaker say the Declaration "never mentions slavery." She checks the transcription. The word "slave" does not appear, and the struck passage on the slave trade is in the earlier draft, not the adopted text. She says that the text has no passage on slavery and that Lesson 3 shows the one that was cut.¹²⁴

A voter and a quotation of the grievances

Voter Malik Johnson of an invented town reads a flyer that says the Declaration accuses Parliament of 27 crimes. He checks. The Declaration accuses the King of 27 things, and Parliament is not named. He reads the phrase "a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution" and finds that the charges against Parliament are made under the King's name.¹⁶

Related Modules

• Declaration, Lesson 1: The Road to Independence: the events behind the charges.
• Declaration, Lesson 2: The Lee Resolution and the Committee of Five: the committee and the Virginia instruction.
• Declaration, Lesson 3: The Drafts: what Jefferson wrote and what Congress changed.
• Declaration, Lesson 4: The Debates Day by Day: the votes and the Journal.
• Declaration, Lesson 6: Colony Charters and the First State Constitutions: the charter charges and the new governments.
• Declaration, Lesson 7: State Declarations of Rights: Mason's declaration and its descendants.
• Declaration, Lesson 9: The Declaration and the Constitution: how the two documents are compared.

Sources & Further Reading

Primary Sources

• National Archives, Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
• Library of Congress, Jefferson's "original Rough draught"
• Avalon Project, Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, October 14, 1774
• Avalon Project, Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, 1775
• Avalon Project, Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress, 1765
• Avalon Project, Virginia Convention preamble and resolution, May 15, 1776
• Avalon Project, Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 12, 1776
• Avalon Project, Jefferson, Draft Constitution for Virginia, June 1776
• Avalon Project, The Quebec Act, 1774
• Avalon Project, The Massachusetts Government Act, 1774
• Avalon Project, The Declaratory Act, 1766
• Avalon Project, The Townshend Act, 1767
• Avalon Project, English Bill of Rights, 1689
• Avalon Project, Blackstone, Commentaries, Introduction
• Project Gutenberg, Locke, Second Treatise of Government
• Project Gutenberg, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1 (Autobiography)
• Massachusetts Historical Society, John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776
• Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5 (1906)
• Rhode Island State Archives, Act of Renunciation, May 4, 1776
• Idaho Constitution, art. I, sec. 1
• Idaho Constitution, art. I, sec. 2
• Idaho Constitution, art. I, sec. 10

Secondary Sources and Further Reading

• Library of Congress, Declaring Independence: Essay
• Online Library of Liberty, 1776 Declaration of Independence: Various Drafts (summarizing Becker)
• Wikipedia, Prohibitory Act
• Wikipedia, Olive Branch Petition
• Teaching American History, Jefferson to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825
• Project Gutenberg, Paine, Common Sense

Footnotes

1. National Archives, Declaration of Independence: A Transcription, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript. All quotations of the adopted text in this lesson are from the transcription, which "reflect[s] the original" spelling and punctuation, such as "Brittish" and "shewn." Counts made for this lesson from the transcription: 27 charges, of which 18 begin "He" and 9 begin "For"; the words "Parliament," "slave," "Lord" and "Constitution" (capitalized) do not occur in the text; "King" occurs once, in "the present King of Great Britain"; "God" occurs once, in "Nature's God"; "Creator," "Supreme Judge" and "divine Providence" occur once each.
2. Counts made for Lesson 3 from the National Archives transcription: 338 words for the opening and statement of principles, 707 for the indictment and the paragraph on petitions, 117 for the address to the British and 158 for the conclusion, with the whole text at about 1,320 words. See Lesson 3, The Drafts.
3. Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825, Teaching American History, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-henry-lee/. The quotations are those given on the page.
4. William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, Introduction, sec. 2, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_intro.asp. The text says God "has graciously reduced the rule of obedience to this one paternal precept, 'that man should pursue his own happiness,'" and "This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this." It then names "the law of nature and the law of revelation" as the two foundations on which "depend all human laws." Avalon's transcription uses long-s spellings; the quotations are normalized.
5. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7370/pg7370.txt, sec. 4 and sec. 6. Sec. 4 describes "a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature," and "A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another." Sec. 6 says "The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker."
6. Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, October 14, 1774, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/resolves.asp. The colonists claim rights "by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts." Resolve 1: "they are entitled to life, liberty and property." Resolve 4 claims "a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures ... subject only to the negative of their sovereign," while consenting to acts of Parliament "bonafide, restrained to the regulation of our external commerce." Resolve 8: "a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king." Resolve 9: "the keeping a standing army in these colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against law." Resolve 10 calls a council "appointed, during pleasure, by the crown" "unconstitutional." The list of infringements includes acts that "deprive the American subject of trial by jury," 12 Geo. III ch. 24, which authorizes trial of offenders "out of the realm ... in any shire or county within the realm," "the three acts passed in the last session of parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of Boston, for altering the charter and government of Massachusetts-Bay, and that which is entitled, 'An act for the better administration of justice, etc.'," the Quebec Act as "abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there," and the act "for the better providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers." This lesson read the Resolves, not the acts named in them, other than the Quebec Act, the Massachusetts Government Act and the Declaratory Act.
7. Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774), Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffsumm.asp. The text claims "rights, as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate," and says "kings are the servants, not the proprietors of the people."
8. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 4, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit, which prints the text under the title "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America," and the entry for July 15, which records New York's approval of July 9. See Lesson 4.
9. Library of Congress, Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence, as reconstructed by Julian P. Boyd, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1 (Princeton, 1950), pp. 243-247, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/ruffdrft.html. The page gives Jefferson's text before revision by the other members of the Committee of Five and by Congress. The word count of that text (1,704) and the count of its charges were made for this lesson from the page. Quotations from "the original Rough draught" in this lesson are from this reconstruction.
10. Thomas Paine, Common Sense (Philadelphia, 1776), Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/147/pg147.txt. The quotations are from the introduction ("simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense," "The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth"), from the opening on society and government ("necessary evil"), from the passage that "Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation" and "'Tis time to part," and from "A government of our own is our natural right."
11. Virginia Declaration of Rights, adopted unanimously June 12, 1776 by the Virginia Convention, "drafted by Mr. George Mason," Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/virginia.asp. Section I: "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety." Section II: "all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants." Section III: "whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it."
12. Library of Congress, Jefferson's "original Rough draught," https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/ruffdrft.html. The text reads "We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness"; the conclusion reads "we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honour"; and the address to the British ends "we must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and to hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends." This lesson read the page.
13. Jefferson, Autobiography, Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45847. The text of the committee report as Jefferson reprinted it reads "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with [certain] [inherent and] inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
14. Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, July 6, 1775, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/arms.asp. The text says "government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end"; that "By one statute it is declared, that parliament can 'of right make laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever'"; that "the commercial intercourse of whole colonies, with foreign countries, and with each other, was cut off by an act of parliament"; that the colonists have "certain intelligence, that general Carelton, the governor of Canada, is instigating the people of that province and the Indians to fall upon us; and we have but too much reason to apprehend, that schemes have been formed to excite domestic enemies against us"; that they feel "the complicated calamities of fire, sword and famine"; that they acknowledge "the Divine favour towards us, that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy until we were grown up to our present strength"; and it ends "With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe." Avalon credits the text primarily to Jefferson and Dickinson.
15. Locke, Second Treatise, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7370/pg7370.txt, sec. 87 and sec. 95. Sec. 87 speaks of a man's power "to preserve his property, that is, his life, liberty and estate." Sec. 95 begins "MEN being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent."
16. Idaho Constitution, art. I, sec. 1, Idaho Legislature, https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/ArtI/Sect1/.
17. Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress, October 19, 1765, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/resolu65.asp: "no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives"; "trial by jury is the inherent and invaluable right of every British subject in these colonies"; and the Stamp Act and "several other Acts, by extending the jurisdiction of the courts of Admiralty beyond its ancient limits, have a manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonists."
18. Locke, Second Treatise, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7370/pg7370.txt, sec. 149: "there remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative, when they find the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them: for all power given with trust for the attaining an end, being limited by that end, whenever that end is manifestly neglected, or opposed, the trust must necessarily be forfeited, and the power devolve into the hands of those that gave it."
19. Idaho Constitution, art. I, sec. 2, Idaho Legislature, https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/ArtI/Sect2/.
20. Locke, Second Treatise, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7370/pg7370.txt, sec. 225 and sec. 230. Sec. 225: "such revolutions happen not upon every little mismanagement in public affairs. ... But if a long train of abuses, prevarications and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what they lie under, and see whither they are going; it is not to be wondered, that they should then rouze themselves." Sec. 230: "the people, who are more disposed to suffer than right themselves by resistance, are not apt to stir."
21. The Declaratory Act, March 18, 1766, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declaratory_act_1766.asp. The act declares the colonies "subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain" and that Parliament had "full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America ... in all cases whatsoever."
22. English Bill of Rights, 1689, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp. The declaration of rights states "That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law."
23. Jefferson, Autobiography, Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45847, notes on the debate of June 8 to 10, 1776. Jefferson reports the argument that "as to the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance, but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the last act of Parliament, by which he declares us out of his protection, and by his levying war on us, a fact which had long ago proved us out of his protection; it being a certain position in law, that allegiance and protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is withdrawn," and that "James the II. never declared the people of England out of his protection, yet his actions proved it, and the Parliament declared it." He attributes the argument to the side of "J. Adams, Lee, Wythe, and others." The notes are Jefferson's later write-up.
24. Thomas Jefferson, Draft Constitution for Virginia, June 1776 (fair copy), Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffcons.asp. The preamble to "A Bill for new-modelling the form of Government" lists, as acts of "George Guelf king of Great Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover": "by putting his negative on laws the most wholesome & necessary for ye public good"; "by denying to his governors permission to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations for his assent"; "by dissolving legislative assemblies repeatedly and continually for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people"; "by keeping among us, in times of peace, standing armies and ships of war"; "for quartering large bodies of troops among us"; "for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world"; "for imposing taxes on us without our consent"; "for depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury"; "for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences"; "for suspending our own legislatures & declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever"; "by plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns and destroying the lives of our people"; "by endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, & conditions of existence"; "by transporting at this time a large army of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation & tyranny"; "by answering our repeated petitions for redress with a repetition of injuries"; and "finally by abandoning the helm of government and declaring us out of his allegiance & protection." It also includes "by prompting our negroes to rise in arms among us" and a charge on the slave trade. The page dates the draft "June, 1776." This lesson read the list and counted counterparts for this lesson by comparing wording; the draft constitution has no counterpart for 8 of the Declaration's 27 charges and has a counterpart for 19. The sources read do not establish whether the list in the draft constitution or the list in the Declaration was written first.
25. Online Library of Liberty, "1776 Declaration of Independence: Various Drafts," summarizing Carl Becker, The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas, https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/1776-declaration-of-independence-various-drafts. The page lists the surviving texts, says Franklin wrote in five corrections and Adams two, gives the examples quoted in this lesson, reports that Jefferson added "three new paragraphs and sixteen verbal changes" after Adams returned the draft, that Becker suspects Adams suggested the paragraph on legislatures meeting at inconvenient places, and that Becker treats the Dunlap printing in the Rough Journal as the most authoritative text. This lesson read the summary, not the book.
26. Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/proc1763.asp. The preamble cites the Definitive Treaty of Peace "concluded at Paris, the 10th Day of February last" and names the four new governments (Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and Grenada). The text forbids Governors from granting survey warrants or patents beyond their bounds, forbids private purchases of reserved Indian lands, and says purchases may be made only "for Us, in Our Name" at a public meeting.
27. The Townshend Act, Avalon Project (page dated November 20, 1767), https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/townsend_act_1767.asp. The preamble states "it is expedient that a revenue should be raised in your Majesty's dominions in America, for making a more certain and adequate provision for defraying the charge of the administration of justice, and the support of civil government." The rate schedule includes glass, painters colours and tea at "three pence" per pound. The page title gives November 20, 1767; this lesson uses only the year because that date may be an effective date and not the date of passage.
28. Library of Congress, "Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents," Essay, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/declara3.html. The essay says Jefferson made a clean copy labeled "original Rough draught"; that it was "Revised first by Adams, then by Franklin, and then by the full committee"; that "a total of forty-seven alterations including the insertion of three complete paragraphs was made on the text before it was presented to Congress on June 28"; that Congress made "thirty-nine additional revisions"; and that Dunlap printed the first text on July 4, with copies sent from July 5 and Washington's copy read to the army on July 9.
29. Prohibitory Act, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibitory_Act. The article says "All manner of trade and commerce" would be prohibited and any ship found trading "shall be forfeited to his Majesty, as if the same were the ships and effects of open enemies"; that the British "had hired German auxiliary troops known as Hessians"; and that colonists, "Concluding that they no longer had the king's protection," responded with the Declaration. It also quotes John Adams on the act: "It throws thirteen colonies out of the royal protection, levels all distinctions, and makes us independent in spite of our supplications and entreaties." This lesson found no provision on seized crews in the article and could not confirm the source of the charge that captives were made to bear arms against their country other than the Virginia preamble quoted above.
30. The Quebec Act, 1774, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/quebec_act_1774.asp. The act fixes the boundaries of the Province of Quebec and provides that "nothing herein contained, relative to the Boundary of the Province of Quebec, shall in anywise affect the Boundaries of any other Colony." It continues the criminal law of England ("the Certainty and Lenity of the Criminal Law of England ... shall continue to be administered"), and it says that, "whereas it is at present inexpedient to call an Assembly," the Crown may appoint persons resident in the province to make regulations. This lesson read the page; Avalon dates it October 7, 1774, which matches the 1763 Proclamation and not the act, so this lesson gives only the year.
31. The Massachusetts Government Act, May 20, 1774, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/mass_gov_act.asp. Sections II and III make councillors hold office "during the pleasure of his Majesty" and give the governor power to appoint; section V gives the governor power to appoint sheriffs; section VII bars town meetings, except the annual meeting for choosing officers, without the governor's written leave; section VIII changes how juries are selected.
32. Preamble of the Virginia Convention, May 15, 1776, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/const02.asp. The preamble says "By a late act all these Colonies are declared to be in rebellion, and out of the protection of the British Crown, our properties subjected to confiscation, our people, when captivated, compelled to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and countrymen"; that "fleets and armies are raised, and the aid of foreign troops engaged"; that the King's representative "hath not only withheld all the powers of Government from operating for our safety, but, having retired on board an armed ship, is carrying on a piratical and savage war against us, tempting our slaves by every artifice to resort to him, and training and employing them against their masters"; and that Virginia is "appealing to the Searcher of hearts for the sincerity of former declarations" and driven "by their wicked councils, and the eternal law of self-preservation." The resolution instructs the delegates to propose that Congress "declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain."
33. Rhode Island Act of Renunciation, May 4, 1776, Rhode Island State Archives transcription, https://docs.sos.ri.gov/documents/civicsandeducation/teacherresources/Act-of-Renunciation.pdf. Read through a summarizing fetch tool. The act repeals the earlier act securing allegiance to the King and says that allegiance and protection are reciprocal.
34. See Lesson 3, The Drafts, which sets out the passages Congress struck and the words Congress added ("certain," "scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages," "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world," "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence," and "colonies" for "states"), from Jefferson's Autobiography, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45847, and the National Archives transcription.
35. Olive Branch Petition, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Branch_Petition. The article gives July 5, 1775 (adoption), July 8 (signing) and July 6 for the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, and reports that the colonial agents were told on September 2 that "as his Majesty did not receive it on the throne, no answer would be given."
36. Idaho Constitution, art. I, sec. 10, Idaho Legislature, https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/ArtI/Sect10/.
37. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 2, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The entry records that Congress "resumed the consideration of the resolution agreed to by and reported from the committee of the whole; and the same being read, was agreed to as follows: Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them, and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Ford's note says the report is "in the writing of Charles Thomson." The same entry records that the committee of the whole on the declaration, "not having had time to go through the same," asked leave to sit again. The Journal gives no count of the votes.
38. John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/AFC02d015. Adams quotes the resolution passed July 2 as: "that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States, and as such, they have, and of Right ought to have full Power to make War, conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do." The Journal text of July 2 quoted in Lesson 4 ends at "totally dissolved" and does not include that second clause. This lesson could not explain the difference.
39. Preamble and Resolution of the Virginia Convention, May 15, 1776, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/const02.asp. The preamble says the King's representative was "tempting our slaves by every artifice to resort to him, and training and employing them against their masters."
40. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for June 28, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit, where the parallel columns of the first draft and the reported draft include the words "in the name & by authority of the good people of these [states] colonies." The scanned columns are badly mixed, and this lesson reads the bracket as marking an alteration without knowing whose.
41. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for June 25, 1776 (afternoon), https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit: the Pennsylvania conference declaration "expressing their willingness to concur in a vote of Congress, declaring the United Colonies Free and Independent States." See Lesson 4.
42. Locke, Second Treatise, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7370/pg7370.txt, sec. 168: where the people have no judge on earth, "they have a liberty to appeal to heaven, whenever they judge the cause of sufficient moment."
43. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 15, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit, recording the New York convention resolution of July 9 that it "will, at the risque of our lives and fortunes, join with the other colonies in supporting it." See Lesson 4.