\t\t\tAllan Levine<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5 minute read<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t2:02 AM CDT<\/p>\n
In the 16th and 17th centuries, countries and territories such as the Netherlands and Portugal boldly declared their independence from Spain. But 250 years ago, on July 4, 1776, the American Declaration of Independence \u2014 marked in the U.S. by the semiquincentennial celebrations \u2014 was the first time an overseas colony (the 13 colonies, in this case) had set out in an official document its reasons for breaking away from its mother country.<\/p>\n
Because the Declaration ultimately gave birth to the United States, it is considered one of the greatest of historical treatises. Thomas Jefferson, its primary author, later explained that his main aim was \u201cnot to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of \u2026 but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject; in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did so brilliantly, creating, in theory at least, an enlightened argument for American independence based on the political, economic, social and philosophical thinking of the era.<\/p>\n
Influenced by such philosophers as John Locke and Montesquieu, Jefferson, then 33 years old, a lawyer, landowner, Virginia politician and a delegate to the Second Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia, passionately believed in natural law \u2014 that all human beings were born free and equal and that no king or ruler could abolish these rights. It was a key point he made in the Declaration\u2019s well-known preamble.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tRead<\/a>
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