The main idea expressed in the Declaration of Independence is that governments are human inventions. Contrary to what many people in Europe believed at the time, this document argued that Thomas Jefferson wrote the United States Constitution in the 18th century. He wrote that all men had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. "life, liberty and property". But 13a. The Declaration of Independence and Its Legacy "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that Thomas Jefferson changed the phrase "property" to "pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence to emphasize the importance of individual rights and the pursuit of personal well-being and fulfillment. When we reread Jefferson’s words in the Declaration, in light of his understanding of property, his choice to use "pursuit of happiness" becomes clear. Your life is your property. Your liberty is your property. Your pursuit of happiness is your property. Declaration of Independence. The condition of the parchment Declaration of Independence is a sign of the place it has held in the hearts of many Americans. Years of public display have faded and worn this treasured document. Today it is maintained under the most exacting archival conditions possible. When he penned the Declaration of Independence, ratified on the Fourth of July, he edited out Locke's right to ‘property’ and substituted his own more broad-minded, distinctly American concept On July 2, 1776, after months of deliberation and while directing battle in the colonies and Canada, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare the “united States of America” separate and independent from Britain. On July 4, the Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson. hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the (This is Professor Julian Boyd's reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence before it was revised by the other members of the Committee of Five and by Congress. The natural rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness right not invented by Jefferson and the committee of five but we're borrowed from that enlightenment British philosopher John Locke. However in the final draft of the Declaration of Independence Jefferson changed locks natural right the property to pursuit of happiness. In fact, one of the possible reasons Jefferson wanted to leave the word "property" out of the Declaration of Independence was because he did not want to talk about equal rights when it came to property. Perhaps Jefferson did not want to give property ownership to slaves or native americans. Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence used the expression, " life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness." [2] In the final version, Jefferson altered the wording slightly to read " Jefferson’s truth may be self-evident, but “the pursuit of Happiness” has baffled many. The simplest explanation is that this phrase is a euphemistic synonym for “property,” similar to John Locke’s “life, liberty, and estate.” Jefferson, however, meant far more than the right to buy, possess, and dispose of property. “The pursuit of happiness” is the most famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence. Conventional history and popular wisdom attribute the phrase to the genius of Thomas Jefferson when in Most people believe that Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration, replaced the final word of the phrase “life, liberty, and property” coined by John Locke in the Two Treatises A list of complaints by the colonists that were outlined in the Declaration of Independence. The list was approved by the Continental Congress. Note: The source for this transcription is the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, the broadside produced by John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776. Nearly every printed or manuscript edition of the Declaration of Independence has slight differences in punctuation, capitalization, and even wording. The “Rough draught” includes changes made in the text in the various stages of its evolution—changes made by TJ himself, by Adams and Franklin, who were consulted separately, by the Committee or by Congress. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring that the 13 American colonies were no longer under British rule. This marked a
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