The Declaration and Constitution

In the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress affirmed as a self-evident truth that "all Men are created equal" and "endowed by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights" and "that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." The Declaration then moves to the question of political forms, or which constitution of government is "most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." The charges against the King that the colonists then submit as facts to a candid world point to an answer to this question by highlighting ways in which the King violated the principle of government by consent by interfering with representative legislatures; did not allow for an independent judiciary; and abused executive power. Read in this light, the Declaration helps to make sense of the structure of the state and national constitutions written after the Declaration of Independence. Unlike the Declaration, however, the U.S. Constitution first drafted in 1787 did not mention individual rights, a lacuna we will explore next week.