Philadelphia Declaration of Play
OurDeclaration The Philadelphia Declaration of Play When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the restrictions on play which have developed over recent decades and separate themselves from the impediments to said free play for all children, we must declare the causes that limit children’s opportunities to […]
Children’s Declaration on Immigrant Rights and Family Unity
OurDeclaration Children’s Declaration on Immigrant Rights and Family Unity We are children of all ages, from around the country. We are immigrants, children of immigrants, and children whose families have lived in this country for many years. We are leaders in our families and in our communities. We are the present and the future […]
Black Lives Matter Declaration — State of the Black Union (2015)
Editor’s Note: “We the People, committed to the declaration that Black lives matter, will fight to end the structural oppression that prevents so many from realizing their dreams. We cannot, and will not stop until America recognizes the value of Black life.” These two sentences conclude the first ‘State of the Black Union’, issued by […]
An Essay favoring American Independence (Oct. 22, 1776) that Rebuts a British Declaration Against Independence (Sept. 19, 1776)
Editor’s note: Embedded within this eloquent response by a South Carolina patriot is the full text of a snotty ‘declaration’ written by British aristocrats opposing our July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence, in which they scold “misguided Americans” for “their extravagant and inadmissable Claim of Independency.” In reply, the South Carolinian asserts that what would in […]
Declaration of Wants, Youth Liberation Movement of Ann Arbor, 1970
Editor’s Note: In December 1970, fifteen-year-old Keith Hefner, along with other teens, launched the Youth Liberation Movement of Ann Arbor. This was considered the nerve center for a number of radical youth movements started across the U.S. One of its members, 15-year-old Sonia Yaco, received 1,300 write-in votes in the movement’s effort to have a member on the school board so youth would have […]
Declaration of an Enemy to American Liberty (August 8, 1776), Declaration of a True Friend (October 27, 1775)
Editor’s Note: In the days and months leading up to the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence, local declarations issued by official bodies could be very personal. They could indicate whether a specific person was deemed an enemy or true friend of liberty, as the two declarations included here show. The first pinpoints “a certain John […]
Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada (Feb. 22, 1838)
Editor’s Note: The leading insurrection Robert Nelson wrote the declaration of independence for the breakaway republic of Lower Canada (what is today Quebec) while in exile in the United States, following the rebellion of 1837, an uprising sparked by the lack of political reform. Clearly inspired in part by the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence of the U.S., as well […]
Declaration Against Independence, Chester County, PA (Sept. 25, 1775)
Edtor’s note: Just a little over nine months before the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was issued, the winds of political sentiment were still blowing every which way, indicating just what a tenuous, close run thing the move towards independence was. In this declaration against independence, Chester County, Pennsylvania, officials make clear “their abhorrence even […]
Declaration of the Provincial Congress of South Carolina to the Governour (June 20, 1775)
Editor’s Note: Breaking up with Britain was hard to do, as this somewhat ambivalent June 20, 1775 declaration attests (and as does Thomas Jefferson’s initial draft of ‘the’ Declaration of Independence). On the one hand, Charleston’s provincial Congress makes clear that it desires “nothing more ardently than a speedy reconciliation with our Mother Country upon constitutional […]
Universal Declaration for Animal Welfare
Editor’s Note: This declaration for ‘animal kind,’ first developed by the World Society for the Protection of Animals, has not been officially adopted by the United Nations. But after a number of iterations and evolutions over the years, this 2011 draft version is wending its way through the UN, where member states are reviewing it. If approved, […]
