The Declaration of Independence and the pursuit of self-interest

The Declaration of Independence has gained a revered place in world history. Although it was not the first time a document declared men to be equals (George Mason and James Madison had declared as much to be true in the first article of the Virginia Declaration of Rights), the Declaration did eloquently summarize the ideals of the Revolution in a succinct document and represented a high point of Enlightenment thought. In other words, it was a proverbial shot across the bow of the ship of hereditary governments around the world, a signal to all that a new representative world awaits those who would embrace it.

Many people remember sections of the first two paragraphs of the Declaration ("when in the course of human events," and "we hold these truths to be self evident," are perhaps the two most recognizable phrases in American history), we often forget that the beginning of the Declaration is, simply, a preamble. It explains the logic and philosophy of the break from Great Britain, taken from John Locke's Second Treatise of Civil Government written almost a full century before the Declaration.

Philosophy is all well and good, but what are the reasons? The less seldom thought about section of the Declaration, listing the particular grievances the colonists had with the British government, occupies a much larger section of the document than the beginning. At 650 words, it is almost double the size of the first two paragraphs combined.

There are 27 grievances in all, arranged in a literature sense, all directed against King George; there is a mild beginning to set the stage ("He has refused his Assent to Laws,") and eventually the accusations rise in fervor. It is probably easier to look at the grievances in a grouping and not in order of the original writing. When viewed in this sense, the grievances mostly deal with governmental operation, ruling without consent of the governed, failure to sign laws, failing to respect an independent court system, for instance.

All good and sound arguments, to be sure, but probably not enough to sway a large middling class of farmers, tradesmen, and merchants to risk life and limb in a bloody revolution against the world's largest army and navy.

Yet, if one looks closer, there are three grievances that strike to the heart of colonial support. These grievances argue that the King is not only disobeying the law, but he is deliberately interfering with colonial free enterprise, settlement, and bureaucracy.

•  He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.  
• He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. 
•  For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.

In short, the King is interfering with self-interest, with the American desire to pursue happiness.

In this series of blog posts, I will explore how each of these three grievances were interpreted and supported by the colonial middle class during the revolutionary era.