By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
This weekend, we pause to celebrate.
But, do we know what we are celebrating?
Missouri Western State University associate history professor Dominic DeBrincat says the most common misconception he notices about Independence Day is how easily Americans confuse the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution.
“A lot of the rights that people believe they hold didn’t come from the Declaration of Independence,” DeBrincat tells St. Joseph Post. “All the Declaration of Independence did, on its most superficial level, is declare an intention to separate from Great Britain, because of Great Britain’s violations of what Americans were calling their natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Unrest among the colonies began in 1763, according to DeBrincat, when after the French and Indian War, as Great Britain sought to exert more control over the colonies and their residents. It culminated in the founders approving the move to break with Great Britain on July 2, 1776 with the Declaration of Independence formally read to the public on the 4th.
DeBrincat says the Declaration of Independence made a huge impact and not just on the relationship of the colonists and Great Britain, but on the world. He says the founders very much intended to send a message to the world when they fashioned the document.
“And so, it’s a very unique document that expresses the rights of individuals, but does so in a global announcement that not only invites people, but as we see for the next, well, two centuries, other countries will use as their model for revolution and independence.”
While the Declaration of Independence made a statement about the rights of the colonists, the rights of individuals in general, it also established a relationship between liberty and responsibility. It established a republic, DeBrincat says, a republic which works because of the relationship between the government and its citizens.
“But what is often overlooked today is the importance of our role in a republic. Not the government’s role, but our role,” DeBrincat says. “And, if a republic works as they had hoped under the Declaration of Independence; if a republic is going to work it’s going to work, because we use our independence and our individual rights to think of the greater good.”
DeBrincat says Americans can become self-centered about their rights, but the founders thought citizens must exercise their rights for the greater good to make for a successful republic.