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, […]
A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Pennsylvania (Aug. 16, 1776)
Editor’s Note: This Declaration of Rights — which includes “the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety” — was approved on August 16, 1776 by Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, and became an official part of Pennsylvania’s Constitution, ratified on September 28, 1776. A […]
A Declaration of Rights and Fundamental Rules of the Delaware State (Sept. 11, 1776)
Editor’s note: This declaration of irrevocable rights and fundamental rules — essentially a bill or declaration of rights – crafted by the state of Delaware’s first general assembly was enacted in tandem with a new Constitution, the ultimate article of which states, “No article of the declaration of rights and fundamental rules of this State, agreed […]
Instructions for Independence, Acton, Massachusetts (June 14, 1776)
Editor’s note: On June 14, 1776, inhabitants of the town of Acton, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, apparently left out of an earlier opportunity “to express their minds with respect to the important question of American Independence,” make it clear here that they are ready to break from Britain, convinced as they are that “the present age will be […]
