By Phillip Leach
“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.”
– The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, 1776
The Famous Line That Sparked a Movement
With these words, freedom in an American sense was born. The Enlightenment thinking of John Locke, Thomas Hume, and Cato’s Letters – discussed in the last blog – forms the philosophical foundations of the Declaration of Independence and its most famous line. However, freedom has held different meaning, by different people, at different times. Locke, for instance, heralded the freedom of life, liberty, and property – notice the distinction between Locke and Jefferson’s definition. Eighteenth-century intellectuals held varying definitions, as did ordinary eighteenth-century British colonists.
The Philosophical Roots of the Declaration
The Founding Fathers certainly drew from a wealth of philosophical writing and Enlightenment thinkers when drafting the Declaration of Independence. However, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration’s principal author, drew from more than intellectual sentiment. The Declaration embodied the strident belief of Britain’s colonists seeking greater autonomy, self-determination, and freedom.
Growing Tensions Between Colonists and the Crown
Early Loyalty to Britain
The relationship between the British colonists and their royal government eroded over a long period. While pioneers and frontiersmen sought personal freedom through exploration in the backcountry, the major population centers of the thirteen American colonies held loyal to the British Crown for decades (in the case of Georgia) or even more than a century (in the case of Virginia and Massachusetts).
The French and Indian War: A Turning Point
It wasn’t until the French and Indian War and its aftermath that colonists began to question their relationship with the Crown. The thirst for land—and equally as important, the possibility of acquiring land—first began the split between the colonists and the Crown.
The Proclamation of 1763 and the Fight for Land
During and after the French and Indian War, Britain’s colonial population swelled. Areas once considered backcountry or “Indian land” were being overwhelmed with settlers. One of the stipulations of the treaty that ended the war was for British settlers to remain east of the Appalachian Mountains.
The British government issued the Proclamation of 1763, establishing a boundary along the Appalachian Mountains beyond which colonial settlement was forbidden. Intended to stabilize relations with Native Americans, the proclamation instead angered colonists hungry for westward expansion.
For many colonists, the restriction felt paternalistic and arbitrary, designed to suppress colonial ambition and maintain British control. To them, land was essential to economic independence and personal liberty.
Trade Restrictions and Economic Tensions
The Navigation Acts
The thirst for land westward was matched by trade eastward. The Navigation Acts, long standing yet rarely enforced before the French and Indian War, mandated that goods shipped to and from the colonies could only be transported on British ships traveling via approved routes.
After the war, Parliament increased enforcement to generate tax revenue. Tariffs made trade more expensive, and smuggling became both an economic necessity and a form of protest. Colonial merchants believed Britain’s policies existed to benefit the Crown at the colonies’ expense.
The Stamp Act: A Direct Challenge to Liberty
While the Proclamation of 1763 and the Navigation Acts affected landowners and merchants, the Stamp Act of 1765 hit nearly all colonists. Parliament imposed a direct tax requiring special stamped paper for newspapers, legal documents, and even playing cards.
The objection was not the tax itself but the principle: a tax levied by a distant Parliament with no colonial representation. “No taxation without representation” swept through the colonies.
The Stamp Act Congress
Leaders from multiple colonies gathered to discuss their future—the first major unified political action among them. Their conclusions would echo in the Declaration’s insistence on equality under the law and the right to self-government.
Resistance, Organization, and a Growing Call for Freedom
By the late 1760s, nearly all British colonists were affected by the Crown’s policies. Protests escalated. A stronger British military presence arrived.
From Local Protests to National Action
Groups like the Minute Men, Sons of Liberty, and the Continental Congresses began articulating a shared sentiment—one that ultimately found its voice in Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration: More Than Philosophy
More than philosophical thought, the Declaration represented the mood of a nation forming in the cauldron of revolution. The revolution did not end with its signing—or even with American independence.
Working Toward an Ideal
The interplay between the philosophical and the practical, the intellectual and the visceral, continued as the Founders—and later custodians of the United States—worked to live up to the ideals of the Declaration despite the inequalities that persisted.
Jefferson understood that Freedom Always Matters, but the meaning and application of freedom were only beginning to take shape.
