The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are two of the oldest documents in America and two of the most popular. These documents help to shape America and gave us freedom from the British government. The two documents contains very important information about our independence but they are different in many ways. In this paper I will compare the two documents and incorporate an outlook from the Christian biblical worldview. The U.S Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are very different in their objectives and personal appeal. Since it was established the U.S. Constitution has been the foundation for the U.S. Government. The U.S. Constitution has been designated the supreme law of the country. The Declaration …show more content…
Once approved by every State the U.S. Constitution was put in effect in 1789. The U.S. Constitution brought the President, Supreme Court and Congress into play. It states the powers held by each office and lays out how each position should be picked. The U.S Constitution also states the rights of every U.S citizen.
The Declaration of Independence led the way for the U.S. Constitution because without the Declaration of Independence the Constitution would probably never exist. The Declaration of Independence got the thirteen United States of America thinking about how much more they could do on their own under fair leadership and how better things could be if the citizens was able to help make some decisions. I think that the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution did not think about the separation of church and state. At that given time I think that the main focus was getting away from the British government. I believe they were thinking if we can remove ourselves from under the British government we can make our own rules and run our states the way we see best fit. Not if we don’t focus on keep the main focus on strengthening our churches our government could be lost. I believe that the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution was thinking that if they separate God from the Government that they could keep some of the rules and guidelines set forth by God and then make their own. The thinking
Secondly, when supporters of the Christian nation idea point to the Declaration as proof they fail to realize something. The Declaration is not law. Nothing in the Declaration legally guides the way American government or its people function. Even though it set up the foundation for this new nation, it cannot be regarded as any type of legal document that would give evidence of a Christian based nation. However, even if someone were to look at the Declaration as proof, there are more misconceptions. The idea in the Declaration of a government that derives its power from the people is radically different from the theory of divine rights that is seen in the Christian kingdoms of the past. The founder’s idea of a government by and for the people completely rejects the idea of a government where man derives the right to maintain power from a divine being. Moreover, if the founders had wanted to remain in that type of society than they could have used much simpler terms, rather than using the confusing, vague terms such as “Creator.”
The Declaration of Independence was a letter written to King George III, stating that the 13 colonies were declaring that they were leaving the rule of Great Britain, and that they were becoming a free nation. It was important for the Declaration of Independence to be written first because it represented the creation of our free nation. It made it possible for Americans to have the rights that we have today.
In comparing Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, The Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution, it is evident that the basis of all three documents is the idea that all human beings possess God-given fundamental rights and that government is created to protect those rights. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, is the first of the three documents penned. This is important because it defined the rights of liberty and equality of all American citizens as outlined in John Locke’s natural law thesis (Martin, page 113). In addition to providing an itemized account of the grievances colonist’s held against King George III of England, it served to justify the colonist’s quest for independence and separation from British rule. The Declaration of Independence conveyed to the crown that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Founders’ of the New World understood that their pursuit of liberties and autonomy specified in the Declaration of Independence could not come to fruition without instituting decrees. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution, was written to replace the Articles of Confederation with a better defined series of stringent laws that would legally uphold the freedoms and privileges established in the Declaration of Independence. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress got together to form a document known as the Declaration of Independence. Written by American colonists, it did not want to be under British rule no more. The document also stated the rights of humans, but some of the main ones were the equality of men and also, the unalienable rights that the people of the United States were given as citizens. The Declaration of Independence has the main rights that modern citizens need now-a-day, but some can argue that the Preamble to the United States Constitution was made in order to form a more perfect union, making it the more compelling document. The Declaration of Independence, in comparison to the Preamble, is the most compelling document in today's day and age.
The Articles of Confederation, Adopted by Congress on November 15, 1777, for all practical purposes was the United States’ first Constitution. Created to establish a bond between the newly formed states, “...the Articles purposely established a "constitution" that vested the largest share of power to the individual states” (Early America). This ensured that the government did not have the majority of power. “...the Articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws...allowing the states retained their "sovereignty, freedom and independence” (Early
When looking at the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, there are pertinent themes that can be seen in both. The Declaration of Independence was a proclamation severing government ties with Great Britain. It laid out
In addition to defining the government’s powers, the Declaration of Independence helps to define America’s nationhood. The Declaration of Independence was the first document composed. It declared the colonies’ independence from Great Britain which meant that it was the beginning of a new free nation. “Lincoln used the Declaration of Independence to construct national identity” (Farber, 2007). He says that the Declaration of Independence is the foundation on which the United States was formed which
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two significant documents that transformed the history of the United States. The people of the “New World” went from being ruled by British law and living in the thirteen colonies, to becoming an independent nation with a democratic government. The Declaration was written to ensure that all official ties with its mother country, Great Britain, were suspended indefinitely. It then went on to describe the concepts and ideologies behind a just and fair government. The Constitution, however, outlined how the newly democratic government would operate. In 1776, after the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, a verdict was made that the only constructive way to ensure independence as a nation would be to declare independence from King George III, Parliament, and Great Britain. The colonists sought to fashion a clear, detailed document, known as the Declaration of Independence, which stated why the people chose to move in this direction as well as providing several arguments to support their case. This world-renown document is a symbol of the unity between the 13 colonies during their fight for independence during the American Revolutionary War.
The United States Constitution and The Declaration of Independence are two of America 's most famous documents that laid the foundation for it 's independence as a nation and separation from British rule. The following paper will compare these two documents and decipher the difference of the two.
With the above synopsis of the three important documents, I can now really compare them all. The Declaration is a statement to declare freedom and separate from Great Britain, listing all the horrible things the king did for the colonies’ reason to become independent, while the U.S. Constitution was written after, to be more specific to the government and how that should be run. The Declaration was more of a broad, almost philosphical view of what the US should be. The Constitution lays out the new government stating there will be a Congress, President, and a Supreme Court. It further details the powers of each branch and how each should be run. The Constitution was written by respresentatives of all the states; however the Declaration was written by Jefferson and revised by the delegates of the 13 colonies. The letter Jefferson wrote to the Danburry Baptists sparked a debate about the separation between church and state and what that really means. There have been many interpretations of that over the
After declaring independence from the British monarchy, the colonist believed they should set the new form of government on paper. With the failure of the first constitution, Articles of Confederation brought together James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and many more to contribute to the new form in which the new country would operate. The founding fathers understood that if they had too much nation government it could lead to the same form of government the British had
Although our Declaration of Independence did not occur until the late 18th century, the founding fathers had already learned the lessons of congruity between government and religion. Their predecessors to the new world, the pilgrims, had famously sought religious refuge in the Americas in the early 17th century, roughly 150 years earlier. As the American Colonies were British domain, the founding fathers knew all too well about the Divine Right of Kings and the doctrine that monarchs derive their authority directly from God himself. As the worldly embodiment of the divine, monarchs could create and mandate doctrine, as Henry VIII had so boldly done in the early 16th century, well before America was colonized by the British (Rockett, 2004).
Neither the United States Constitution, nor the Declaration of Independence, were written in an ideological vacuum. Rather, the ideas expressed by the various philosophers during the century and leading up to the American Revolution had tremendous influence over the Founders of the United States. These ideas came together in the creation of the U.S. constitution, working in tandem to lay the foundation for the way the government should be structured, as well as the core philosophy behind the country.
In 1639, the founding fathers who were puritans held two views which they wanted to establish in colonial America. They wanted to establish America as a haven of religious freedom as well as a Christian Nation. But in the centuries that followed there was a shift in the wording of the constitution. 150 years later George Washington swore to preserve the constitution which had been amended and there was no mention of God or divine Providence. America does not want to tell the world that it is Christian Republic but that it is a secular nation. (http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i7500.html)
The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are two major documents that changed the history of America. These documents changed the United States of America from a colonized nation to an independent nation that has its own government. The Declaration of Independence was written towards Great Britain on July 4, 1776, to show America is now a free state and no longer a colony of Britain (Ferling 222). On the other hand, the United States Constitution was signed in 1878 led to the formation of federal governments, which provided the right for each state to practice its own rule under the US Constitution (Ritchie 11). Without either of these documents, the United States government wouldn’t be as strong as it is today and probably