The Declaration of Independence: America's Birth Certificate

Begin this course on the Declaration of Independence with a look at the physical document itself, tracing its creation and signing. Follow the centuries-spanning travels of the document, to its current home, as it was moved numerous times for display and safekeeping. Reflect on the significance and meaning of the document, as a beloved embodiment of national identity and patriotism.

Track the events that led to the outbreak of revolution. In the wake of the Boston Tea Party, mark the Coercive Acts passed by Parliament, and the colonists' actions seeking reconciliation, which were ultimately rejected by the crown. Note the roles of Thomas Paine's ideological tract Common Sense and numerous local declarations demanding independence in bringing the crisis to a tipping point.

In June of 1776, colonists moved rapidly toward announcing their political separation from Britain. Follow their actions leading to the creation of a committee to draft a statement of intent, headed by Thomas Jefferson. With Jefferson designated the write the document, learn how he composed it over two weeks, incorporating suggestions from the committee before placing it before Congress.

Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence stands as a masterful piece of writing. Read the two opening paragraphs of the document and take apart the meanings of the finely-honed and densely packed sentences. Note how Jefferson conveys the American colonists' stance with elegance, precision, and rhetorical power, articulating the ultimatum to seek independence at any cost.

Here, delve into the most essential part of the Declaration-the grievances against the crown. Study the document's three categories of grievances: abuses of executive power, legislative power, and cruelty in human terms. Examine Jefferson's sources for the charges, and the ways in which he uses rhetoric, exaggeration, and hyperbole to justify rebellion as a moral necessity driven by principle.

Congress' movement toward independence came to a head in the days before July 2, 1776. As of early June, trace the events surrounding a three-week postponement of a vote on separation from Britain. Leading into July 2, follow the tense unfolding of the progress toward a final vote, with multiple speeches, delays, and maneuvers that in the end produced a majority vote for independence.

Following the vote to separate from Britain, Congress set about editing Jefferson's draft of the Declaration. From July 2-4, 1776, track the many revisions, as the delegates rewrote, deleted, tightened, and enhanced areas of the text, addressing a range of political and strategic concerns. Grasp how the delegates reshaped Jefferson's initial work into a universal statement of human liberty.

Learn how news of the Declaration was disseminated across the colonies, through printed broadsides of the document, newspapers, and numerous public readings, from statehouses and churches to the streets. Take account of the public response, encompassing celebrations, large and small, episodes of anti-British violence, and resistance on the part of loyalists to the crown, as the war escalated.

Uncover the routes by which British authorities became aware of the colonists' declaration. With the news reaching London, note the contrast between the government's choice to withhold public response and the clamoring of newspapers to publish the document. Mark the response of the British press, anti-colonist writings rebutting the declaration, and the king's ultimate, condemning proclamation.

In issuing the Declaration, examine the major motives of the delegates to secure foreign aid and alliances, considered essential to victory against the British. Track the actions of the patriots to publish the Declaration in Europe, and the long efforts of Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin to forge an alliance with France, leading ultimately to official French recognition of the United States.

Take a broad look at how the Declaration of Independence has echoed in the larger world. In the 75 years after its creation, track the numerous peoples, from Europe to South America, who used the Declaration as a blueprint for their own proclamations of statehood. And consider its new global relevance following the world wars, as human rights and political independence became a global language.

In conclusion, trace the process by which the Declaration and its language have become a kind of American scripture. Witness how the document began to take on a sacred aura during the War of 1812, and its subsequent embrace by those seeking rights for women, African Americans, Native Americans, workers, and many others in our contemporary world, becoming a national credo for freedom and equality.