Declaration of Independence

I

Introduction

Declaration of Independence, document in American history used by the 13 British North American colonies to proclaim their independence from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was adopted in final form on July 4, 1776. It can be divided into three parts: a statement of principle concerning the rights of man and the legitimacy of revolution, a list of specific grievances against England’s King George III, and a formal claim of independence.

The document transformed the colonists’ struggle with Great Britain from a defense of their rights as Englishmen to a revolution aimed at overthrowing the existing form of government. It did not establish a structure of government and should not be confused with either the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution of the United States. For the American colonists, the declaration was an announcement to the rest of the world that the colonies were independent from Great Britain; it also provided a rationale for this action. The goal was to solidify internal support for their struggle and to encourage external assistance from European powers such as France.

II

British Colonial Control

A number of events led to the Declaration of Independence. The British-American triumph in the French and Indian War (1754-1763) was particularly significant because it not only caused France to lose its North American empire, but also led to changes in Britain’s relationship with its own colonies.

After the war, the British government decided to reorganize its overseas empire. The country was heavily in debt because of war expenses; it needed money and felt that the colonies should pay a share of the defense of the colonies. In addition, the British found it difficult to maintain control over the American colonies without a more centralized administrative system in North America. During the French and Indian War, several colonies had refused to cooperate fully in the war effort when their own borders were not immediately at risk. Smuggling was also so rampant that the American customs service cost the British more money to run than it earned in revenue.

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The British government decided to maintain a 10,000-man army to protect the colonies from Native Americans and from any new French threat. The army could also help to maintain British authority in the distant colonies. Parliament ordered the customs office to collect the taxes levied on imports, usually called duties, more efficiently and passed the Sugar Act in 1764 ) and the Stamp Act in 1765 to raise revenue in the colonies to pay for one-half of this army. The rest of the money was to come from the British treasury. These laws made economic sense to the British, who did not see them as direct threats to American liberty.

III

Early Colonial Resistance

Colonial Americans viewed the measures quite differently. Some colonists objected to the unaccustomed British enforcement of customs collections, and others spoke publicly against the Sugar Act, even though this new measure actually lowered the duty imposed by the Molasses Act. (Despite lowering the duty, increased revenue was expected because collection would be strictly enforced.) But the Stamp Act led to the most serious resistance. This law, passed by Parliament in 1765, required the purchase of revenue stamps for legal documents and many other paper products. American protestors objected to the fact that Parliament, which contained no colonial representation, had passed a tax on the colonists to raise revenue.

Angry colonists formed patriotic organizations called the Sons of Liberty and encouraged Americans to resist the tax by whatever means necessary. Mobs appeared throughout the colonies, forcing stamp distributors to resign and discouraging merchants from importing British goods. A Stamp Act Congress met in New York City to discuss colonial grievances and petition the king and Parliament to withdraw the tax. After the congress, the colonists organized a boycott of British products, and the Stamp Act became virtually unenforceable. Parliament repealed the measure in 1766, responding to pressure by British business interests and a change of administration in Great Britain.

During the Stamp Act controversy, colonial Americans struggled to explain their resistance. They admitted the right of Parliament to regulate commerce through external or indirect taxation, but denied its right to raise revenue through internal or direct taxation such as the Stamp Act. The Americans also disagreed with the British over the concept of representation. British officials claimed that Americans had 'virtual representation,' arguing that Parliament protected America’s best interests even though colonists did not vote for members of the House of Commons. They compared Parliament to the local colonial assemblies that theoretically represented all colonists even though property qualifications prevented many people from voting for delegates. To emphasize their point, the British immediately followed the repeal of the Stamp Act with the passage of a Declaratory Act in 1766. This act asserted Parliament’s right to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever. Many colonists refused to accept the idea that they were represented in Parliament, and ignored the Declaratory Act just as they had the Stamp Act. See also American Revolution: The Ideological Sources of Resistance.

IV

Taxes on Tea

The Stamp Act controversy set the pattern for future conflict over imperial policy. In 1767 Great Britain passed the Townshend Acts, which placed duties on a variety of items imported by the colonies. These acts also suspended the New York colonial assembly for violations of the Quartering Act of 1765, a measure that required the colonies to provide housing and supplies for British troops. Once again the colonists formed committees, arranged a boycott, and pressured Parliament to repeal the acts. Rising tensions also led to the Boston Massacre, a violent confrontation in March 1770 between a mob of Boston residents and British troops guarding the Customs House. Angry colonists used this incident to whip up even greater anti-British sentiment, even though they soon received news that the British government had canceled all of the Townshend duties except the tax on tea.

Three years later Parliament passed another Tea Act in an effort to aid the British East India Company, a large commercial trading firm that had experienced financial difficulties. This measure granted the East India Company a monopoly of the tea trade, but actually lowered the price of tea in the colonies because it did not require the company to pay customs duties to the British treasury. However, the new Tea Act faced great opposition because it required collection of the import duties on tea, forcing colonists to accept English taxation and hurting the business of merchants who were competitors of the East India Company.

On December 16, 1773, an organized mob in Boston dumped East India Company tea into the harbor in what has become known as the Boston Tea Party. More 'tea parties' followed in other ports. To punish the colonists for this destruction of property, Parliament in 1774 passed a series of laws that the colonists called the Intolerable Acts. These measures curtailed the powers of the Massachusetts assembly and local town meetings, closed the port of Boston, required colonists to provide housing and supplies to British soldiers, and allowed the governor to move the trial of British officials from Massachusetts in capital cases for acts committed in the line of duty.

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