Tea Party Nation Declaration of Independence (2010)
Editor’s Note: In February 2010, about a year after enter the political scene in a big way, Tea Party activists began disseminating a ‘Declaration of Independence.’ Evocative at last in some respects of our July 4, 1776 document, the declaration aims to be a means for clarifying their principles and purpose, for establishing their independence from the […]
Declaration and Manifesto of Occupy Wall Street Movement (2011)
Editor’s Note: The Occupy Wall Street began on September 17, 2011 in Zucotti Park in New York’s Wall Street financial district, and sparked a global protest movement. A declaration soon followed. Described as a “living document” when it was first circulated on September 30, 2011, here’s how a statement by Occupy Wall Street — an”ongoing, […]
New York Mechanics Declaration of Independence (May 29, 1776)
Editor’s Note: This local declaration of independence — which preceded the July 4, 1776 document was issued in May 1776, signed by manual laborers in the Mechanick-Hall, New York — requested that New York’s contingent in the Second Continental Congress formally vote for independence. This eloquent local declaration calls for a pan-colonial declaration of independence. New […]
Vermont Declaration of Independence — January 15, 1777
Editor’s Note: Five months before it became known as Vermont — a roughish translation of the French for ‘green mountain’ — the territory was at its origins ‘New Connecticut.’ In January 1777, delegates gathered in Westminster to declare formally their independence both from the British crown and from the New York colony (Congress didn’t recognize it as a […]
Preamble to Virginia Constitution – a Declaration of Grievances (June 29, 1776)
Editor’s Note: Ever wonder where Jefferson came up with the grievances enumerated in his first draft of the Declaration? You need look no further than the Preamble he composed for the Virginia Constitution. While Jefferson was not present at the proceedings of Virginia’s constitutional constitution, such was his passion for constitution making that he sent the convention delegates a constitution […]
Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 12, 1776)
Editor’s Note: Take a careful gander at the Virginia Declaration of Rights, crafted by American patriot George Mason and adapted by the Virginia Constitutional Convention on June 12, 1776, and you’ll see readily how deeply it influenced Jefferson’s opening paragraphs in his draft of the Declaration of Independence, not to mention our Constitution’s Bill of […]
English Bill of Rights of 1689
Editor’s Note: From grievances such ‘taxation without representation,’ having a standing army in a time of peace, and other usurpations of power by king and parliament, to enumerated rights like freedom of speech and the right to be governed only with the people’s consent, Our Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 was clearly influenced by the English Bill of […]
What does a Declaration do?
Declarations tend to be statements of principles and values and rights, personal as well as political, with cultural and moral and philosophical dimensions. They usually try to spell out the ‘moral operating system’ of a society or a group within a society. They also can serve as political statements that may originate with one group […]
Act of Sovereign Union between First Nations and Peoples in Australia (2012)
Editor’s Note: This 2012 declaration, evocative of our July 4, 1776 document, was issued by an organization called “The National Unity Government” and asserts the sovereignty of indigenous ‘first nations and peoples’ in Australia. The document is the product of a series of gatherings that first convened in 1999. Act of Sovereign Union between First Nations and […]
Republic of Lakotah (2007)
Editor’s note: Until he passed away in October 2012, Russell Means, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, was a prime mover and shaker behind the effort to establish the Provisional Government of the Republic of Lakotah. Those who carry the torch for the movement do not see this as secession but rather as a “withdrawal;” they consider […]
