141 A Declaration in Draft (Doing History Rev)

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

History, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2017

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Declaration of Independence stands first in a series of documents that founded the United States. It also stands as an early step in the long process of establishing a free, independent, and self-governing nation. Since 1776, more than 100 nation-states and freedom organizations have used the Declaration of Independence as a model for their own declarations and proclamations of independence. Given the Declaration of Independence’s important place in the hearts and minds of peoples around the world, we need to go behind its parchment and explore just how the Declaration of Independence came to be. In this preview episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution! Series, we explore how the Second Continental Congress drafted the Declaration of Independence. Show Notes:https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/141 About the Series The mission of episodes in the Doing History: To the Revolution series is to ask not just “what is the history of the American Revolution?” but “what are the histories of the American Revolution?” Episodes in this series will air beginning in September 2017. The Doing History series explores early American history and how historians work. It's produced by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Be sure to check out Doing History season 1, Doing History: How Historians Work. Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Doing History: To the Revolution! series OI Reader App Complementary Episodes Episode 007: John Adams & the Adams Papers Documentary Editing Project Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration Episode 062: Carol Berkin, The Bill of Rights Episode 086: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London Episode 096: Nicholas Guyatt, The Origins of Racial Segregation in the United States Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life and Ideas of Thomas Jefferson Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Ben Franklin's world and the Doing History to the Revolution series comes from the
0:05.2	Omaha Institute of Early American History and Culture. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another
0:25.0	and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station
0:30.0	to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
0:37.1	requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
0:42.3	We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are
0:46.3	created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
0:51.0	rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
0:54.9	happiness. The Declaration of Independence stands first on a series of documents that
1:00.5	founded the United States. It also stands as an early step in a long
1:04.2	process of establishing a free independent and self-governing nation. Now according to
1:09.4	Thomas Jefferson, the American people had to issue a declaration of independence to convince the world of the
1:14.6	justice of their rebellion. King and Parliament had forced American Whigs to seek redress for
1:19.4	repeated violations of their sacred rights through arms.
1:23.0	And by taking up arms against their sovereign,
1:25.3	American Whigs stood outside the protection of both English
1:28.2	and international law, a fact that King George III proclaimed
1:31.8	in August 1775 when he declared that his subjects in diverse parts of our colonies and plantations in North America have at length proceeded to an open and avowed rebellion.
1:42.0	Americans needed help waging their fight. to an open and avowed rebellion.
1:43.0	Americans needed help waging their fight,
1:45.2	yet official help from Great Britain's rivals, France, Spain, and the Netherlands
1:49.2	stood beyond their reach unless they could prove that their recourse to arms against Great Britain was just.
	...

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