The Declaration of Independence

About this book

"We hold these truths to be self-evident" begins the Declaration of Independence. This is one of the most quoted lines in American history, but where did "these truths" come from? And what do they mean to Americans today? The Declaration of Independence is one of the world's most important historical documents. It has been lauded by generations of historians as "American scripture" and the "American version of the Magna Carta," but the Declaration began its life as a press release, intended to serve an immediate purpose, after which it was stored with no special care alongside the rest of the records of the Continental Congress. Its creators could not have anticipated that it would become one of the most iconic symbols of the Revolution they were waging and the nation they were building. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, however, the Declaration would begin to assume its place in the mythos and civic religion of the United States. It provided Americans with a shared political language that would shape how subsequent generations understood the Revolution and the politics of their own times. Liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness became keywords in American politics, and each generation has redefined those terms and, by extension, the Declaration. In this book, historian Michael D. Hattem offers a fresh history of the Declaration of Independence. He moves beyond how it was written and approved by Congress to tell a story that spans a quarter of a millennium and features a cast of countless individuals and groups from around the world who dared to realize the Declaration's ideals more fully than the revolutionary generation could ever have imagined. He shows how the Declaration has reflected many of the inherent contradictions at the heart of the American experiment and has been used equally by liberal and conservative political movements to achieve their different political aims. The result is a compelling story of the Declaration's origins and the creation of its legacy over the past two hundred and fifty years.