Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia, 1965)
Editor’s Note: Not all Declarations of Independence are created equal. Some lead to the enfranchisement of the great majority of a society, and others only advance the interests of a relatively small number within a populace. Even our vaunted July 4, 1776 declaration, while overwhelmingly supported by white Americans (especially white male Americans), could be […]
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1793
Editor’s Note: An expanded version of the 1789 French declaration, this revised version goes even further than its predecessor — it places greater emphasis on egalitarianism and endows all humans with even greater rights. Though it was never officially enacted, it nonetheless has been highly influential when it comes to advancing notions in the generation sto […]
Occupy Wall Street Principles of Solidarity (2011)
Editor’s note: When the September 30, 2011 manifesto of Occupy Wall Street was released, a statement promised that it would soon be accompanied by a ‘declaration of demands’ and also a document elaborating ‘principles of solidarity.’ A footnote to these principles states: “The Working Group on Principles of Consolidation continues to work through the other […]
A Draft Declaration of Demands for the Occupy Movement (2011)
Editor’s Note: Released on November 21, 2011, this declaration is a follow-on to the Occupy Wall Street Manifesto that was issued on September 30, and in which it was promised that a “declaration of demands” would soon follow. If there is another later version that supplants this ‘draft,’ I haven’t been able to locate it. […]
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1789
Editor’s Note: If there was a declaration to be written in the years soon after the founding of our republic, who better than Thomas Jefferson to have at least have some hand in its composition? As U.S. minister to France, Jefferson at times leant his expertise and insights — in many ways the product of […]
Charles County, Maryland, Declaration of Independence
Editor’s Note: One of the last state and local declarations to be issued before the Second Continential Congress, led by Jefferson, got to work making a declaration of its own — one that history would characterize as the declaration to end all declarations — Maryland was one of the last to come aboard the independence […]
Presentments by the Grand Jury of Cheraws District, in South-Carolina (May 20, 1776)
Editor’s Note: If ever a compelling case can be made that the Declaration of July 4, 1776 was in fact evocative of declarations at the state and local level that preceded it, one need look no further than the opening section of this at-times rather poetic ‘presentment’ issued in May 1776 in the Cheraws District […]
Buckingham County, VA, Declaration of Independence (June 14, 1776)
Editor’s Note: This declaration of independence was one of scores that was issued by states and localities in the months following the publication of Thomas Paine’s influential and rabble-rousing Common Sense. These declarations in turn informed our July 4, 1776 document. This statement, or declaration, was published in the Virginia Gazette on June 14, 1776, and was likely issued […]
Declaration of Czecho-Slovak Independence (1918)
Editor’s Note: On October 18, 1918, from their base in Paris, the Czecho-Slovak Provisional Government issued a declaration of independence. The declaration came out after the historic ‘Pittsburgh Agreement,’ in which key Czech and Slovak expatriates, who convened shortly after World War I, and in the face of the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, agreed […]
Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention (1833)
Editor’s Note: Written by the abolitionist, journalist and social former William Lloyd Garrison, this declaration of sentiments — published on December 14, 1833 in The Liberator — heralded the birth of the American Anti-Slavery Society, incorporating key passages of our Declaration of July 4, 1776 to advance its arguments. Declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention The Convention, assembled […]
