Declaration of Independence

Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, which written mainly by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776.  Jefferson began his argument with an explanation for needed independence of the colonies from Britain because of man's natural rights. He writes, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." He reasoned that according to nature and God, the colonists' were just in their actions to declare independence. He listed the many corrupt ways that the King of Great Britain and the British government dealt with and treated the colonists, including destroying the lives and towns of the people. The document ended with Jefferson summing up the just reasons for independence, including that of justice and God's providence, and the signatures which ratified the Declaration of Independence.


Thomas Jefferson portrays the corruption of the British government in a way similar to that which John Berger explains mystification in "Ways of Seeing." In the Declaration, Jefferson listed the many reasons for independence and the injuries the colonists felt as a result of actions of the British government. Many of the listed reasons showed that, unlike what the king or government may have tried to convince British citizens of what the colonists were like, the government acted very unjustly towards its own citizens. The British government should have considered and taken on the perspective of the colonists, but instead they mystified the situation in order to have control over a good portion of the Americas. The king, influenced by his own individuality and want of power, mystified the relationship between Britain and America by taking it upon himself to control trade and tax the people, as well as waging war on them later.

Should it be taken into consideration that Thomas Jefferson was a deist, pertaining to the evidence to his argument if one claim was that it was self-evident that God meant for America to be independent?