The Declaration as Historiography

Inspired by the Course of Human Events blog’s “Fresh Takes” project, I’ve been thinking about the Declaration of Independence as a historiographical text. It presents a philosophy of history, describes historical events, and bases its argument on history.

Philosophically, the Declaration reflects Whiggish ideas about the origin of government and the legitimacy of some past revolutions:

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The document finds weight in the passage of time, expressing a respect for “Governments long established.” But it also acknowledges, again drawing on the past, that tyrannies have gone on too long: “all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

At the core of the Declaration is an examination of more recent history as ”a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object”:

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. . . .

The grievances that follow can all (sometimes with a little squinting) be connected to at least one event in the preceding ten to twelve years.

Finally, in addressing the British nation, the Continental Congress wrote: “We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.” While looking ahead, the Congress was looking back.