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After the Fact: Declaring Independence Essay

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November 19th, 2012 Mr. Penza A-Block After the Fact: Declaring Independence The Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Second Continental Congress expresses the thirteen American colonies desire to disjoin from Great Britain. Chapter 4 of “After the Fact,” entitled Declaring Independence, presents factual viewpoints of historians as well as thorough examinations aroused from the possible confusions of the renowned document. In May of 1766 Jefferson met with the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to discuss whether or not the states should regard themselves as part of the British Empire. The manner was debated by a group of radicals such as Jefferson and the Adams …show more content…

The Stamp Act moreover exhibits how the colonists progressively formed into an independent union; initially wanting jurisdiction over England’s regulation of trade but accumulatively protesting and detaching from the British government. The Boston Port Bill was discretely used by Britain to take American’s freedom. The Bill backfired on Britain giving reasons for Jefferson and colonists to point a finger at the King, and declaring him as a tyranny. In conditions of deciphering Jefferson’s viewpoint in the document produced from the Enlightenment era, most historians have concurred with Carl Becker in arguing that Jefferson’s ideas routed from English philosopher, John Locke. Jefferson grasped an appreciation towards quantification, a theory attempted by Scottish Enlightenment thinker Francis Hutcheson who simplified morality. Garry Wills’s contended that Jefferson “conceived the pursuit of happiness” which essentially helped him write the philosophical aspects of the Declaration including the portion of the right to life, liberty, and happiness. Contemporary events such as the waging war, and George Mason’s preamble, allow us to see how Jefferson also acquired his ideas. Jefferson stated “all men are created equal” with the premeditated notion that he was a slave owner and regarded “negroes” as

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