As it turns out, the Declaration of Independence serves precisely such a role with respect to the United States Constitution, and is thus part of a national covenant/compact. When the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it was a call for the right to statehood rather than individual liberties, says Stanford historian Jack Rakove. It is a comparatively brief essay because it was intended to summarize the grievances of the American colonists against the British Crown, thus providing. Political covenants, called compacts in their secular form, would have had the Declaration serve as a preamble and bill of rights to a constitution. The document also turns out to be part of a political covenant of the kind long used in America, and originally derived from covenant theology. Indeed, the manner in which state and national perspectives are balanced make this the first national document to lay out federalism as a central aspect of American political thought. history, document that was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and that announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain.

The Second Congress swiftly formed a Continental Army under the command of George. The document could be read with approval by students of Whig political thought, or the Enlightenment rationalists, or the deeply religious those jealous of state power, or nationalists. In August of 1775, the King declared the colonies to be in open rebellion. Viewed in this context, the Declaration is not only an efficient summary of American political thought, but also a careful rhetorical balancing of contending views. This painting depicts the moment on June 28, 1776, when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress. 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. The Declaration of Independence is an efficient, abstracted summary of the eighteenth-century American mind. 21 of the best book quotes from The Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of independence meaning