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The Aspen Institute
Course: The Aspen Institute > Unit 1
Lesson 1: The Declaration of Independence- The American Revolution: 1775
- Background and introduction to the United States Declaration of Independence
- All men are created equal
- Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
- Tyranny and despotism
- First draft of the Declaration of Independence
- Birth of the US Constitution
- The Declaration of Independence
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Background and introduction to the United States Declaration of Independence
In this video, Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson talks to Sal about the background to the Declaration of Independence. Created by Sal Khan and Aspen Institute.
Want to join the conversation?
- How did Ben Franklin's son become governor of New Jersey ?(32 votes)
- William Franklin got the job because of his father. Ben Franklin was by far the most popular person in the colonies, he personally wrote letters lobbying the Prime Minister and members of Parliament on for his son behalf.(8 votes)
- @, Sal makes the point that this was an illegal Continental Congress. Up until this time, weren't the colonial legislatures pretty much autonomous of the British Crown? Wasn't the Continental Congress a logical offshoot since the colonists had pretty much had self-government for most of their history? 1:11(18 votes)
- The united states of america was basically started by congress desiding if they were gonna break up from the king himself which was george washington . George Wahington had a military that needed supplies so that helped the citizens of the 13 unions come together and stay loyal(1 vote)
- who signed the declaration of independence(5 votes)
- 56 people signed it includes wiith corresponding colonies.
Connecticut (4): Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
Delaware (3): Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Georgia (3): Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Maryland (4): Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Massachusetts (5): John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
New Hampshire (3): Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
New Jersey (5): Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
New York (4): William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
North Carolina (3): William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
Pennsylvania (9): Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Rhode Island (2): Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
South Carolina (4): Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton
Virginia (7): George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton(23 votes)
- Why were African Americans enslaved in the first place(6 votes)
- They were enslaved by African tribe leaders as spoils of tribal war and sold off of the African coast to Europeans. From there they would sold through the European slave trade to settlers of the new world once the need for labor workers was established.(15 votes)
- Atthe claim is made that Britain and France were already in a war. The Seven Years War was already over. What war are they referring to? 7:26(8 votes)
- The french were fighting the british for a long time an they had a decent respect for the french us as the us knew that the frnch were trying to show that they wanted help and that they were also fighting for their liberty(1 vote)
- Is a part of King George's family still alive(5 votes)
- Yes, his descendants ruled forever ruled Great Britain and the UK, and he current royal family is all descended from him (save those who married into the family). Fun fact- The current queen of the UK, Queen Elizabeth's great-great-great-great-grandfather was George III.(4 votes)
- Doesn't this indicate a bit of hypocrisy, though? I mean, at the time of writing, I'm pretty sure Thomas Jefferson was an avid slaveowner, and all individuals were at least complicit in the systematic physical/cultural genocide of the Native American people. In saying "all men are created equal" while simultaneously doing nothing to abolish the above acts, do they imply that their slaves and Native Americans are not "men" and therefore equal to them?(4 votes)
- It could be argued that way. Jefferson, in many ways, was a man of paradox and contradictions. Some of Jefferson's efforts and policies reflected the anti-slavery attitude, but again the sheer number of slaves in his home Monticello suggests otherwise. Even when it comes to Native Americans, Jefferson thought they were barbaric and advocated for their removal. The phrase "all men are created equal" could be viewed as more of a symbolic expression rather than as a philosophical creed.(5 votes)
- Who got King George into ruling America, and why did King George get to be ruler of Britain?(2 votes)
- Britain (Now the UK) is a constitutional monarchy. That means they have a king who isn't the supreme power. When a king dies, his oldest son becomes king.
So George the third was king because his grandfather George the second died. George the first was a different story. Queen Anne, the previous ruler of Britain, had no heirs when she died. So all the nobles of Britain went to Germany and asked George to come and rule them. At the time, George was Duke of Hanover. George said yes, and became King George I.
America was colonized by the British in the early 1600s, and were still controlled by the British when King George III came to power.(9 votes)
- In the beginning of the video you say that there were 5 who worked on the Declaration who were the other two?(2 votes)
- The members of the Committee of Five were: John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert Livingston of New York, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_of_Five(3 votes)
- Isn't it kind of unusual that Benjamin's son wasn't elected by the citizens for being governor but instead got appointed by King? Were the citizens okay with it?(3 votes)
- I don't know if the citizens were okay with it, but at that time, the king was in charge, and if he appointed the governor, the people had to be "okay with it".(1 vote)
Video transcript
Male: I'm here with Walter Isaacson and what are we about to talk about? Walter: We're talking
about the Declaration of Independence, which
happens, as it says up top, on July 4, 1776, but
what we have to remember is that for more than a
year, since April 1775 there had been a lot of fighting going on. There was a revolution happening, but up until this point
the fighting was mainly against what they
considered to be the acts of Parliament and Parliament's
ministers and taxing the colonies. Finally, with this document they decide they're going to become ... The American colonies are going to become free and independent, a separate country, which means rebelling
against the King himself, George the III. Male: And this is George the
III in all of his regality. (laughing) Walter: Right. You know up until they met in Congress with the Continental Congress gathering themselves
together they pretended at least to respect George
the III, and they were blaming everything on
the British Parliament, but it was a pretty
difficult thing to decide you were going to overthrow the King himself. Male: And just to be clear, this Continental Congress it's easy now for us in hindsight. It seems like a very official thing, but this was really a rebel congress. It wasn't sanctioned in any way by kind of the formal government, by the government of Great Britain. Walter: Right, and as
you see it says the 13 United States of America. This is the first time
they really start using the phrase United States of America. They weren't really a country yet. They were 13 different colonies, and not all of them wanted to come to this Continental Congress. Getting them all together
was quite difficult. They do so partly to
help George Washington's troops get funded because
they've started the skirmishes up in Lexington
and Concord and Massachusetts, but by 1776 George
Washington has a real army and they have to fund
him, and eventually they'd figure out well this
congress ought to decide are we really having a revolution? Are we trying to break
away from the King himself? And the answer here is yes. Male: Wow. And so this is the beginning of the Declaration of Independence and these three fellows
on the right-hand side look very familiar. Walter: They're on the
committee that the Congress appoints to draft the Declaration. Actually there were five
people on the committee, but these of course are
the three most important. Thomas Jefferson only
33 years old, by far the youngest person on the committee and he's chosen to write the first draft. Then Benjamin Franklin, who is a mentor of Jefferson's, a printer
from Philadelphia. Franklin had just been spending
the past two decades almost going back and forth to
England to try to prevent a revolution. Then John Adams, the
very passionate sage from the State of Massachusetts
who was the one who was most in favor of revolution. In fact, when Franklin comes back to Philadelphia in early
1776 after having tried to hold Britain and America
together most of these people didn't know whether
he would be on the side of revolution or not. In fact, his own son, William Franklin, is, at this time of this Declaration, the Royal Governor of New Jersey and is staying loyal to King George. Male: And just to, once
again emphasize the context, the Royal Governor of New Jersey. This wasn't like the
Governor of New Jersey we imagine now. He wasn't elected by the people. He was appointed. Walter: No, he was appointed by the King. He was the Royal Governor, and you know Franklin was proud of
his son, but they have this incredible split
starting in 1776 where William Franklin remains
loyal to the crown and loyal to King George the III who had made him Governor of New Jersey. Male: Now, one thing
that you had mentioned a few seconds ago that
I think is surprising is when you mentioned that
Jefferson was 33 years old when he wrote the
Declaration of Independence. How normal was that? You know back then it seemed like people did I guess mature faster, but he was still perceived as a fairly young person. Walter: Yes. They all loved to be thinking of themselves as young rebels too. In fact, Jefferson I think
is the second youngest person in the Continental Congress, but there was a third person
who lied about his age to pretend to be younger
and actually wasn't. Jefferson was a good wordsmith. He was from Virginia and
it was very important of this person from ... Franklin from Pennsylvania and Adams from Massachusetts to make
sure we got Virginia in because Virginia, there
was a chance it would remain loyal and ... Male: It was a large wealthy ... Walter: A large wealthy land-owning colony and so getting the
Virginians in, and there were very strong rebels from Virginia. The Lees of Virginia as
well as Jefferson were in favor of declaring independence so they decide they want
to make sure that Jefferson gets to write the first draft. Male: Interesting. And so what we see here,
this is the final text. This is the official
Declaration of Independence. Walter: Right. Male: In the future videos
we can talk about previous drafts. Walter: Right. They
went through five drafts to get to this draft and this is the one that they do after unaninously all 13 colonies, now
called the 13 United States in this document, declare
this to be the cause of the colonies. And what you can see
in the first paragraph is they have to explain why
are we writing this document. They say well if you're
going to have a revolution, if you're going to dissolve
the political bands which have connected you
with another state, then the laws of nature and
of nature's God entitle them a decent respect. This is the equal station
they get because of nature and nature's God. It's a pretty interesting phrase. Male: Let's read the whole thing. Walter: Yeah. Male: "When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the political bands," this is
what you were talking about, "which have connected them with another and to assume among
the powers of the earth the separate and equal station
which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them." Walter: What they're saying right there is that the laws of
nature and the fact that nature's God created us
all equally means that one set of people don't
have to be subserviant to or occupied by or colonies
of another set of people. They want to be free and independent, and it's interesting
that they use the phrase, "Laws of nature and nature's
God," because this is sort of the beginning of
the enlightenment where we're supposed to understand that nature gives us our rights and reasons. John Locke, the great British philosopher, believed in the laws of nature, and these were deists. They kind of were religious
a bit, but they didn't subscribe to any
particular religious dogma, and so they just talk
about nature's God allowing us all to be free and equal. Male: Right. "A decent respect to
the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them to a separation." So that's really just saying ... Walter: What they're
saying is we care what the rest of you think. And by the way, it's directed
at one particular people, the French, because we're not going to win this revolution in the
United States unless the French help support us. The French, by the way,
were already at war with the British. There's been a long set of wars throughout the 18th century where France and Britian were fighting each other. So, this document is particularly aimed at saying to the French,
you've been fighting Britain for a long time so
we have a decent respect for all the opinions of
mankind, but yours in particular and we're going to tell
you why we're fighting this and of course in France at the
time this notion of liberty, equality, fraternity,
that's bubbling up as well. So, the document is to
try to persuade other nations please support us. We're explaining why we're
having this revolution. Male: And that's I think
important to remember for someone in 21st century America. It's obviously a major world power now, the major world power. But back then this was
like a little colony. It's kind of a sideshow. Walter: Right, right. And it's important for
us to remember now too that whenever we do something, whenever we get involved in the
world we should have a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind. Male: Right. Walter: That's how we
started as a nation saying when we do something
we're going to be open. We're going to be honest. We're going to explain to you why.