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How Is Thomas Jefferson Justified In The Declaration Of Independence

1011 Words5 Pages

Erick Platero
Professor Dethloff
Honors English 1302
9 February 2017
Revolutionizing the World
After a long struggle of suffering, humiliation, and disrespect, the thirteen colonies conclusively decided to reconcile their difference, and stand united against the most powerful nation on earth, Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson, a Virginia delegate, was left with the task to justify to the world of their unprecedented, yet necessary, action to “dissolve the political bands” (Jefferson 770) that had tied them to the British crown. When the time came, Thomas Jefferson not only had the intention to officially declare the colonies separate from England, but he also had the intention to legitimize an inevitable war to the foreign nations to gain …show more content…

From the very start, Jefferson included all of mankind to listen as he stated, “When in the course of human events...,” (770) to immediately assimilate the struggle of the colonies as a major turning point in all of human history. He makes it very clear that the conflict the colonies are going through did not just pertain to them; it is a matter that pertains to the whole world. To prove this, Jefferson appealed to the core universal right of all humans by stating, “All men are created equal,” (770) which include the freedom to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”(770). This makes a powerful statement as Jefferson masterfully stated principles that all of mankind would agree on. Furthermore, Jefferson stated his radical new idea that the government should work for the people. In this way, Jefferson concluded that if anyone believes in his “unalienable” (770) rights, then they must have a government that works for them. Now, if a “government ever becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government…”(770). While Jefferson recognized that a government should not be overthrown for small and trivial reasons, he also mentions that any continuous cycle of abuse caused by a single man in power makes it the people’s righteous duty to overthrow the base of power. Such is the situation of the colonies in relation to the King. The King blatantly continues to violate the colonist’s sacred rights. To give further evidence, Jefferson stated a long list of twenty-seven grievances that easily portrayed the king as an evil force that hindered human progress, all the while portraying the colonies as a rightful force that advanced human progress. However, even though the King had long violated their most sacred rights, the colonies always “petitioned for

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