How Did Political Ideas Influence The Declaration Of Independence

Examine The Influence Of Political Ideas on the Nature of the United States Declaration of Independence

On July 12th 1776, the congress voted for independence. After some revisions to Jefferson 's document the congress unanimously approved the Declaration Of Independence two days later on July 4th, 1776. Popular Political ideas had a most profound impact among the factors that influenced the nature of declaration of Independence. In 1776, Thomas jefferson wrote the Declaration of independance to assert America’s independence from Britain.Some of the main influences are; John Locke 's contrary theory of government,and Thomas Paine’s Common

Sense.

Jefferson’s justification for independence relied largely on John Locke’s contrary

Common sense struck a resounding chord within the American conscience, as it was hugely influential and convinced many american colonists that the time had finally come to break away from british rule. In fact, the timing couldn’t have been better, only a few days before its release, King george delivered his opening speech to parliament calling for suppression of the american rebellion. If the American revolution were to succeed , the common people( farmers, merchants, soldiers,etc,) had to understand its causes, and common sense provided a comprehensible defence of the revolution. Paine began by criticizing ruler who violated, rather than that protected, the rights of their citizens, which led to the first principal theme, the evils of king george III, who Paine denounced as the royal brute of britain, he charged that the British Monarch was directly responsible for many injustices inflicted on the colonies , an argument Thomas jefferson would further develop in the declaration of independence. He hoped the accusations would provide an ideological justification against King George III that would gain support from colonists over anger issues such as the imposition of taxes without consent and suspension of trial by jury or the hiring of mercenaries. To colonists who feared the economic consequences of severing ties with britain, Paine argued that america could handle its own affairs and avoid the dangers of european wars if freed from british control.While its politics were influenced by enlightenment ideas about the importance of liberty, paine was among the first to articulate the need for america to distance itself from europe. This theme would grow increasingly more significant in american foreign