Declaration Of Independence Dbq

Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. While a document for Americans to declare their independence from Great Britain, it was also a giant public relations campaign to persuade people to fight with the Americans against the British. Many Americans were against the Revolution and believed there was no use fighting against the British since they would win and make the situation in America worse. Additionally, very few Americans trusted the Government made up of and run by elites. Congress created the Declaration to give the American people false hope of equality and the end of tyranny if America won the Revolution, which resulted in so many people supporting and taking part in it.
Throughout the Declaration of

Independence, Congress listed the resulting equality from the Revolution. One of the first points listed was “that all men are created equal.” This is one of the most important statements made within the entire document. This statement gave hope to all middling, poor, and black men, as well as some women that they would be equals to elite, white men. Hope like this was a large contributor to people supporting the revolution, but it was not the only reason. The Declaration also states 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.” Men like John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Jefferson sent a message to the American people with these words that the people had the right and the power to resist the British, abolish the Government established by the British, and to create a new Government in its place. The commoners now had just as much power in this choice as the elites that rand the Government through the whims and wishes of the King. Not only did the Declaration bring Americans hope of equality and a fair Government, but it also listed many of the hardships the King imposed upon the colonies.
The list of accusations against the King, which highlighted the main overstatements of his power and carefully designed by the writers, enticed anger and a want to fight against the British and end the tyrannical reign of the King over America.

While this list easily contains over half of the document, some of the evidence against the King sticks out more than other evidence. For example, they list how “He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.” This refers to the Townshend Acts, passed by Parliament in 1767, which put new taxes on foreign consumer goods, as well as certain goods from Great Britain, where the Crown used the money collected to pay for the salaries of the military, royal Governors, and judges. The underlying problem resulting from the Townshend duties was that it took all the power away from the people since all the people in charge were under the King’s power and had to comply to the King’s wishes in order to receive their salaries. Americans reading this accusation against the King would think back to the Townshend Duties and immediately become angry and willing to fight for that to never happen to them again. Another accusation on the list says that “He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our Legislatures.” This point refers to the stationing of 14,000 soldiers in Boston to keep control of the sea ports, which later resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770, which was not a massacre at all. The Boston Massacre resulted in 3 American deaths, but was portrayed as an actual massacre on a poster sent out to the rest of American by Paul Revere, causing Americans to believe the British were stationed in Boston to kill Americans. Although the Boston Massacre occurred several years before the Revolution, the falsely exaggerated brutality stuck in the minds of Americans for many years to follow, so when this accusation was listed in

the Declaration of Independence, Americans were ready to revolt against the British (all rise mothafucka). Furthermore, the declaration includes the statement that “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.” The King repeatedly allowed Parliament to enforce outrageous amounts of taxes and laws on the American people. A free people, something that Americans were striving to be, would not allow the King to oppress them in this way; why would the American people allow this? Resultingly, people reading the Declaration would feel furious and compelled to rebel.
Mixed among the reasons to have a Revolution stated in the Declaration of Independence were empty promises of equality and the end of tyrannical reign. The Americans people reading the Declaration would have felt bound to fight for the liberty and freedom they were desperately searching for under the reign of the King. While numerous statements included in the Declaration were exaggerations, some listed true faults in the country that could only be fixed through Revolution. If Americans today were in the same circumstances and read the newly released Declaration of Independence, many would also rise up for the freedom, liberty, and equality promised within the document.