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Mark Zovne
ENG102
Sec 34891

Declaration of Independence Analysis

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was the precursor to the Declaration of Independence.

Paine believed America should not be governed by a tyrannical king far-away in Britain. He

likened King George III to a “royal brute,” that had lost his right to rule the American colonies.

Common Sense advocated a self-governing republic utilizing the notions of popular sovereignty

just as Jefferson would do in the Declaration of Independence (Streich). Thomas Jefferson was

an accomplished and eloquent writer which earned him the right to draft the Declaration of

Independence.

A few of Jefferson’s attributes were public official, historian and philosopher. He was a

diligent student who graduated in just two years from the upscale college of William & Mary in

Williamsburg. In 1767 Jefferson was admitted to the Virginia bar and practiced as a circuit

lawyer from 1768 to 1773. Besides practicing law, Jefferson represented Albemarle County in

the Virginia House of Burgesses beginning on May 11, 1769 and ending June 20, 1775

(Congress). The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English

colonists in North America (Hatch). During this time Jefferson wrote A Summary View of the

Rights of British America in which he proposed that people had the right to govern themselves.

Jefferson began serving as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in June 1175. Around

this time he befriended John Adams, a prominent delegate from Massachusetts.

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John Adams ensured that Jefferson was appointed to a five-man committee to write a

declaration in support of the resolution of independence by Congress. Jefferson was appointed

by the committee to draft the document and wrote it in only seventeen days. “Consulting with

other committee members, Jefferson also drew on his own proposed draft of the Virginia

Constitution, George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and other sources”,

(Wikipedia). Jefferson believed that Britain had no jurisdiction over the American Colonies, and

listed the many woes that had been committed against them.

Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence, “He has combined with

others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our

laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation” (Jefferson). He outlined twenty

seven grievances that King George III had committed against the colonies. The injustices by

George III prompted the American Colonies to secede from his rule, and the Declaration of

Independence was the flash point that started the American Revolution.

As stated in an excerpt of the Declaration of Independence:

-For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
-For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should
commit on the inhabitants of these states:
-For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
-For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
-For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
-For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences
-For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring province, establishing therein
an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and
fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies:
-For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally
the forms of our governments:
-For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate
for us in all cases whatsoever.
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The American Colonies had had enough of King George III’s malicious rule. The

majority were tired of a tyrannical imperialist controlling their trade; abolishing their laws on a

whim; imposing back breaking taxes; and most of all impeding their pursuit of life, liberty and

happiness.
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Works Cited
Congress, The Library of. The Thomas Jefferson Papers - 1743 to 1827 Timeline - (American Memory
from the Library of Congress):. n.d. 10th September 2012
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjtime1.html>.

Hatch, Charles. America's Oldest Legislative Assembly & Its Jamestown Statehouses. U.S. Department of
the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Indepence." 1776.

Streich, Michael. Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence: Influences and Impacts Associated
with America's Greatest Document | Suite101.com:. 30th June 2009. 10th September 2012
<http://suite101.com/article/jefferson-and-the-declaration-of-independence-a128930>.

Wikipedia. Thomas Jefferson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 9th September 2012. 10th September
2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson#cite_note-25>.