The Importance Of The Declaration Of Independence In American History

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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN AMERICAN HISTORY

The Declaration of Independence – adopted on July 4, 1776 – not only announced the birth of a new nation, it also lays down a philosophy of human freedom, then and there to be an active force in the entire western world. It rested not upon particular accusations but upon a wide base of individual liberty that could command general support throughout America.
It is fundamental to give details about the background that made the move to independence of colonies necessary, to begin any inquiry into the meaning of the Declaration. We need to go back to a time when Americans still kept a clear conception of themselves as a people composed of individuals capable of self-government. The American Revolution was the dramatic conclusion of just such a moment.
The reasons behind the urge for American independence form an essential part of the political identity of the United States of America, and the Declaration is a chief document in the continuing discussion about who Americans are as a nation and as a society, and what is the process of their looking after and finding their identity in the last three hundred years. The members of each generation strive to discover the truth about their past. One of the answers given to the question of when and where the Declaration’s root has begun is indeed the Mayflower Compact aboard the Mayflower. Aboard the Mayflower, they Pilgrim Fathers adopted an instrument for government called the “Mayflower Compact” to;
“…combine ourselves together into a civil body politic for our better ordering and preservation…and by virtue hereof (to) enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices…as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony…”
The action was not opposed although there was no legal starting point for the Pilgrims to establish ...