American Government: Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a cherished and hallowed American document. Along with the Constitution, it holds a place of honor at the National Archives where visitors line up every day to catch a glimpse of the faded parchment. However, the Declaration is not a document that creates a system of government. Indeed, it seeks to destroy one established relationship and leaves open the door for the next one. If we limit our view of the Declaration to these two options, then its usefulness and application to our current lives is fairly minimal. It is important to consider the Declaration as a document spelling out the ideals of why government should exist. One can easily argue that we regularly fall short of these ideals, but the Declaration is always there to point us in the right direction.
With this in mind, I want you to review the Declaration of Independence and tackle the following questions:
- Identify a section of the Declaration that you think is most central/important to the history of the United States.
- Explain how your selected passage can play a role in shaping American politics today.
- Finally, how (if at all) has the meaning and intent of the passage you’ve selected changed from 1776 compared to today?