Declaration of Independence Analysis.
When the Founding Fathers drafted the declaration of independence they were seeking independence from England. Within the first paragraph of the declaration they state that it is necessary to be free from the "political bands" and return to God's natural rights. During this period, the Enlightenment, the belief was that the ways one should govern oneself was embedded in nature and only philosophers could attain that truth. Lastly, they declare that everyone should know the reasons why they want to become independent. .
Following this declaration is the idea that all men are created equal and that they have natural rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This relates to John Locke's theory of Social Contract in the way that Locke was the one that proposed the natural rights. However, Locke proposed the right to property instead of the pursuit of happiness. Also, Locke believed that a person would "put himself under government and follow its rules, fairly made and fairly enforced. This arrangement is in the nature of a contract, an exchange. A citizen would be better able to secure his liberty and his property by giving up a little of each to a central authority." Now in the declaration, Locke's idea are stated by declaring that to secure ones freedoms a government is needed. The rest of the paragraph states that governments do become corrupt and it is when these governments become corrupt that the people can overthrow them. Then they refer to the fact that they are unhappy under the rule of King of Great Britain. .
They next state the reasons why they feel that the King of Great Britain has been an unfair and tyrannical ruler. There are various complaints that are written such as, the king has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us, he has also kept standing armies without the consent of our legislatures while in times of peace, and he has quartered large bodies of armed troops among us.
