Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality

Allen reminds us of how much ground our slow reading has covered in just the Declaration’s first sentence. The Declaration has invited us to consider how we judge events, what the basis of equality is, and how individuals define themselves as separate from other groups. Allen reiterates that equality is “freedom from domination” and declares that “finishing the rest of the first sentence requires us to meditate on the idea of necessity” (129).

After the colonists assert their equality with other nations, they invoke the rights that “nature and nature’s God entitle them” as the source and support for their new standing (130). Entitlement signifies ownership along with separation—their equality as states means the right to freedom from interference. God refers more to the laws of nature and observable phenomena than a particular deity. The “course” or “river” of events is governed by natural laws, like gravity, and the colonists assess this course to determine their future. A similar natural law, “their drive to survive” (132), acted as the force that moved them to their radical action. Thus, we may accept the right of nations to be left alone for their survival because we “respect God.” However, nonbelievers are equally bound to do this, which Allen demonstrates by pointing out that failure to respect nature and natural rights can have dangerous consequences, as when we “bring war on ourselves” (134).