The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

274 THE FREEMAN MayIt is somewhat strange and amatter for wonder that this documentamong all those of an erarich with elegant statementsshould have attained its uniqueposition. John Adams thought tha.tthe second day of July would becelebrated, for it was on that daythat the resolution for independeneewas adopted. Moreover, helater declared of the Declarationthat "There is not an idea in it, butwhat had been hackneyed in Congressfor two years before."l Thatportion of the document to whichpeople usually refer is exceedinglybrief, comprising, at most, twoparagraphs, the first of which isonly a sentence in length. The remainderof the.document is of historicalinterest only. Moreover, theDeclaration is not now, and neverhas been, a pa.rt of the fundamentallaw of the United States.It lies outside the structure of lawwhich is made up of constitutions,statutes, and the common law.There are, of course, reasons forits position, and they will come outin an· analysis of the documentand discussion of its backgroundand extension.There are three dimensions ofthe Declaration of Independencewhich should be carefully con':'sidered for a clear understandingof it. The first is the contemporarycontext within which it was written,adopted, proclaimed, andserved its purpose. However muchit ma.y have come to belong to theages, the Declaration had a definitepurpose and a particular roleat the time. The second dimensionis its past. The words and phrasesare given their meaning not onlywithin the contemporary rhetoricbut also from historical doctrinesand beliefs. Too, the later applicabilityof anything said is conditionedby the context of a thenpast history. The third dimensionis its future. What men have madeof the document, frequently out ofcontext and with no attention tothe concepts which give it any continuingvalidity, tells us somethingof the reason for its importance.The Declaration in ContextThe story of the compositionand adoption of the Declaration isfairly simple. Richard Henry Lee'sresolution for independence, introducedon June 7,1776, was not immediatelyadopted. On June 10,Congress decided to delay furtherdiscussion of it until July 1, formany delegates awaited instructions,or changes in instructions,from their legislatures before actingaffirmatively for independence.Lee's simple and straightforwardresolution would have been adequatefor the formal declaring ofindependence. But America badlyneeded aid from foreign powers ifthe appeal to arms was to be suc-