The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Editor’s Note: Adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was crafted in less than two years’ time — an amazing feat, especially given how divided among Eastern and Western factions the world was at the time as it emerged from World War II. Yet uncommon common […]
Declaration of Workers’ and Farmers’ Rights and Purposes – 1933
Editor’s Note: With our July 4, 1776 Declaration as its model, the Declaration of Workers’ and Farmers’ Rights and Purposes was the fruit of the inaugural convention of the National Unemployed Leagues, organized in Columbus, Ohio, by Dutch-born clergyman and political activist A.J. Muste, who spearheaded the Conference on Progressive Labor Action, and sparked as […]
Negro Declaration of Independence, 1876
Editor’s Note: Crafted and issued on February 28, 1876 by the National Independent Political Union, headed by Garland H. White, a Baptist Minister and political activist from Weldon, North Carolina, this declaration was printed as a four-age leaflet in the immediate post-Civil War aftermath at a time when Black Americans were already becoming increasingly embittered […]
Declaration of Rights — Equal Rights Party (a.k.a. Loco-Foco), 1836
Editor’s Note: This Jefferson-inspired declaration was composed in 1836 in Utica, New York, where a convention of mechanics, farmers, and working men was held and led to the creation of the Equal Rights Party (also known as Loco-Foco), a segment of the Democratic party. Declaration of Rights, by Equal Rights Advocates and Anti-Monopolists of New York We hold […]
The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence (1829)
Editor’s Note: This declaration was authored in December 1829 by George Henry Evans, a ‘Jacksonian Democratic’ who condemned slavery and who railed against land monopolies, since he believed this practice prevented the realization of a democracy that represented equally all the people, rather than just the landed elite. Evans founded the first labor-centered newspaper, The Working […]
Farmers’ Declaration of Independence (1873)
Editors Note: An adaptation of our July 4, 1776 declaration, this document was published on July 4, 1873, a day that was known as the “Farmers’ Fourth of July,” since this had become a day for farmers and their families to gather and discuss (among other things) pressing political events. This declaration was the outgrowth […]
A Declaration of Gay Independence (2012)
Editor’s note: Tracy Baime prefaces her Declaration with this: “We know that the original signers of the Declaration of Independence didn’t really live by their own words. Very few people in this country’s early years actually had the full rights of citizenship. But those forefathers had a dream, and that dream has been slowly fulfilled […]
Constitution of the United States of the World (includes a series of declarations), 1870
Editor’s Note: Though unsung today, Victoria Woodhull (1838 – 1937) was at the vanguard of the women’s rights movement, which she connected with the labor rights movement. Not only that, she was the first-ever woman to be nominated by her party — the Equal Rights Party — to be its candidate for President of the United States. […]
Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945)
Editor’s Note: Ho Chi Minh’s September 2, 1945 declaration, proclaimed an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The opening passage by Paris-educated Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party, was a verbatim recitation of our July 4, 1776. The declaration was written in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in World War II and France’s attempt to reclaim […]
The People’s Earth Declaration — 1992
Editor’s Note: This progressive declaration sets forth a number of principles, including the right of “(a)ll elements of society, irrespective of gender, class, or ethnic identity ….to participate fully in the life and decisions of the community. The presently poor and disenfranchised, in particular, must become full participants. Women’s roles, needs, values and wisdom are […]
