The Declaration of Independence after 250 Years: Success or Failure?

“The Declaration of Independence after 250 Years: Success or Failure?”

A talk given as as part of Campion College’s Classsical Liberalism Lecture Series.

Dr. David M. Hart 22 April, 2026 Campion College, Parramatta

On this lecture/talk, see

the lecture slides in PDF
the lecture notes at my blog

Contents:

Preliminary Remarks
A personal aside
Historical Context
1. Historical Context of Revolution and Englightenment
2. Enlightenment: Liberal Criticism and Proposals for Reform
The Idea of “1776”
Some Important Texts
The Declaration of Independence
1. The Preamble
2. Key Ideas of the DoI
3. Translations of the DoI
4. Works inspired by the DoI 1
5. Works inspired by the DoI 2: The Burke-Paine-Wollstonecraft Debate
6. “Translations” of the DoI: Mencken and Me (Hart)
Marianne and Statues of Liberty
Symbols of Resistance: “Don’t tread on me”
Singing about Liberty
Odds and Ends
Conclusion: Success or Failure?
Further Reading

Preliminary Remarks

My more scholarly title was: “The Role played by Declarations of Rights and Independence in the Classical Liberal tradition: An Historical Perspective”

My more flippant title was “1776 and All That” – a reference to an amusing and rather cynical book published in 1930 in Punch magazine making fun of the garbled version of history people think they remember from their school days: W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates

What are we “commemorating” or remembering this year?

250 years after 1776 – what happened in that year?

a political act of rebellion/independence/secession of the North American colonies from the Empire of Great Britain
the publication of some important books in which CL ideas were expressed: Paine, Condillac, Smith
the symbolic first stage of putting these CL ideas into practice
- the Virginia Bill of Rights (May/June)
- the Declaration of Independence (4th July)
- later: the creation of the American Republic with its Constitution and its Amendments (Bill of Rights)
the beginning of a day of civic ritual – “July 4th” – on which people still perform certain acts of celebration and memorialisation

Its special Significance for “Us” and its relevance for this program at Campion College

taking place in “the West” –
- part of and consequence of “Western Tradition” of thinking about society, the individual, their relationships between each other and organisations like the church and the state
  - a result of the “conflicted” nature of “the Western Tradition” (“the”?)
ideas of “liberal” reform in all areas were percolating throughout the main countries of “the West” (and their off-shoots like north America and eventually Australia)
- liberal ideas were gradually adopted throughout “the West”
  - partially in England and France, especially after the French Revolution / Napoleonic Wars ended
  - more completely in the new US after 1776, 1791
- important to note that within these movements for reform and criticism and rethinking there were several streams;
  - a “radical” one (the radical and democratic enlightenment, “libertarian” avant la lettre),
  - a more “moderate” one (a “classical liberal” one), both of which were opposed by
  - a traditionalist, reactionary, and conservative movement
- another important thing to note is that these movements for reform did not stop then but continued throughout the 19th century – see my anthology of declarations of rights, etc. – and continued up to the present in various forms (though now less “classically liberal” as it once was, and now included what you might call socialist, social democratic, and nationalist streams of thought (many aspects of which were contradictory, and/or opposed to its liberal roots).

A personal aside

My experience of being in the US on July 4th

I count over 30 (I lived there for over 20 years, visited annually for many years)
BBQs, baseball games (part played by military – especially after Sept. 11 – e.g. Buffalo NY), and parades (sometimes with local fire engines); neighbour in Indianapoilis put an Iroquois helicopter in his front yard
being in Philadelphia on July 4th during IHS Summer Seminar; student visit to Liberty Hall and their interaction with museum staff
being questioned by an American immigration officer who revealed he had an interest in Napoleon ; I felt I had to agree with him to get into the country even though I despised Napoleon as an enemy of liberty
the dinner party I attended in Sydney last year on July 4th with all my “stage props” of revolution; reaction of my old school mates
public readings of the DoI (another kind of “performance”) to reaffirm the principles of 1776
- my numerous examples in English, French, German, Latin
- my “updated version” for 2026

Historical Context

Maps:

Map of the Great Powers of Europe circa 1770
the Seven Years War (1756-1763) in its Global Context (empires and colonies)

Historical Context of Revolution and Englightenment

post 1648 manoeuvering of European states (dynastic and nation states) for power and influence in both Europe and abroad (empire, colonies, trade)
- expansion and consolidation of territory (marriage, conquest/war)
- growth of taxation powers and funding of debt; bureaucratic administration and regulation;
- need for conscription, naval construction and supply
- mercantilism for favoured national industries
- Australia was a by-product of
  - Anglo-French imperial rivalries
  - social crisis within British society (crime and poverty)
state-building: the growing mercantilist-imperial state needed new means of financing itself for war and intervention and regulation
- related to this was development of political, legal, economic ideas to justify and understand the growing power of the state, and control those who supplied the taxes and manpower to enable this
- monarchs/emperors and ruling elites had to form coalitions within the state to do this (church, nobility, military, finance/trade, professional bureaucracy); need to consolidate their rule, keep out rivals, control the populace
beginnings of the industrial revolution
expansion of slave trade and slavery; justice and profitability of coerced labour (including Australia’s convict system)

Enlightenment: Liberal Criticism and Proposals for Reform

growing criticism/analysis of all aspects of life: the Enlightenment
- demands for freedom of speech and inquiry
- demands for lower taxes, spending restraint, removal of impediments to internal and external trade (tariffs, subsidies, monopolies), freedom of occupation and entry
- political representation
- broad demands for reform of society (prison reform – again a link to Australia’s system of convict transportation)
  - tax-revolt in British north America
  - political and economic collapse in France led to Revolution
“1776” and “1789” are shorthand used to describe these events
- 1776 – declaration of independence from the empire of Great Britain and the political and economic structures (domestic and foreign) controlled by the ruling elites at that time
  - Declaration of Independence (Jefferson), Bill of Rights of Virginia (George Mason)
  - often rolled into the Constitution (The Federalist (1788) of Hamilton) and the Bill of Rights (1791)
- 1789 – a declaration of indendence from the French absolutist monarchy and the political and economic structures (domestic and foreign) controlled by the ruling elites at that time
  - “Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de 1789” (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen)
  - Olympe de Gouges – Les droits de la femme (1791)
  - Condorcet, “Déclaration des droits naturels, civils et politiques des hommes”, Constitution française de 1793, projet de Constitution girondin (Feb. 1793)
  - Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Batavian Republic, January, 1795) : “De Verklaring van de rechten van de mens en van de burger” (1795)
  - “Declaration of Sovereignty of the German People Between the Rivers Meuse, Rhine, and Mosel” (November, 1797)]

The Idea of “1776”

in printed Texts
Art
Statues
Flags
Song
T-Shirts
and Helicopters

Some Important Texts

During the Seven Years war: Voltaire, Candide, Ou L’optimisme (1759, 1784)
In 1776 (Books):
Thomas Paine, Common Sense; addressed to the inhabitants of America (10 January, 1776)
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (9 March, 1776)
Condillac, Le Commerce et le Gouvernement (Commerce and Government) (1776)
In 1776 (declarations):
George Mason (and others), “The Virginia Declaration of Rights” (May and 12 June, 1776)
Thomas Jefferson (and others), “The Declaration of Independence” (4 July, 1776)
Alexander Hamilton et al., The Federalist Papers (1788), U.S. Constitution and Amendments (Bill of Rights) (1791)

The Declaration of Independence

Preamble:

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Key Ideas of the DoI

human beings have natural rights which exist independently of the government/state/ruler which come from their “creator” (God) or from their “nature”
these rights must be respected “equally”
these rights consist in the right to life, liberty, and property (or “pursuit of happiness” in TJ’s formulation
individuals have the right to defend their rights from violation by others, and as a consequence can delegate that right of defence to others of their choosing
there is an implied (not a literal) “contract” between individuals and the ruler/government to provide this service, and that if the government / ruler does not abide by this contract or agreement then individuals (“the people”) have the right to change (“alter or abolish”) their government, i.e. the “consent of the governed”
in extreme cases (like 1776) the people had the right of revolution /secession

Translations of the DoI

Translations of the DoI:
German one the following day in Philadelphia
French translation done by La Rochefoucauld in 1783 (also one by Jefferson)
a Latin version done by an unnamed member of Harvard University in the 1820s
a version “translated” into the American vernacular by H. L. Mencken in 1921
a couple by me into modern Australian English (2026)

Works inspired by the DoI 1

“Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de 1789” (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen)
Olympe de Gouges, Les droits de la femme (1791)
Condorcet, “Déclaration des droits naturels, civils et politiques des hommes”, Constitution française de 1793, projet de Constitution girondin (Feb. 1793)
“Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” (Batavian Republic, January, 1795): “De Verklaring van de rechten van de mens en van de burger”
“Declaration of Sovereignty of the German People Between the Rivers Meuse, Rhine, and Mosel” (November, 1797)
the Bill of Rights in the “Workers Party” platform (1975)
my version of a Bill of Rights , “Libertas utrimque maris” (Liberty on both sides of the sea) (26 January, 2026)

Works inspired by the DoI 2: The Burke-Paine-Wollstonecraft Debate

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men, in a Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke (1790).
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s attack on the French Re volution (1791).
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man. Part the Second. Combining Principle and Practice(1792).
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).

“Translations” of the DoI

H.L. Mencken (1921) – colloquial American English
David M. Hart “Dinner Party” version (2026) – “educated” Australian English
David M. Hart “Backyard BBQ” version (2026) – colloquial Ausgralian English

H.L. Mencken (1921)

When things get so balled up that the people of a country have to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are on the level, and not trying to put nothing over on nobody.

All we got to say on this proposition is this: first, you and me is as good as anybody else, and maybe a damn sight better; second, nobody ain’t got no right to take away none of our rights; third, every man has got a right to live, to come and go as he pleases, and to have a good time however he likes, so long as he don’t interfere with nobody else. That any government that don’t give a man these rights ain’t worth a damn; also, people ought to choose the kind of government they want themselves, and nobody else ought to have no say in the matter. That whenever any government don’t do this, then the people have got a right to can it and put in one that will take care of their interests.

David M. Hart “Dinner Party” version (2026)

When it becomes necessary for one people to break away from another, to cut the political ties that bind them, and to take up an equal and independent place in the world—as the laws of nature and the Creator entitle them to do—basic respect for the rest of humanity requires that they explain the reasons why.

We reckon these truths are obvious: that all people are created equal, that they’re born with rights no one can take away, among them the rights to live, to be free, and to chase happiness. To protect these rights, people set up governments, which only get their rightful power from the consent of the governed. When any government starts wrecking these rights, the people have the right—and the duty—to change or ditch it, and to set up a new one that’s more likely to keep them safe and happy.

David M. Hart “Backyard BBQ” version (2026)

Look, sometimes in life you’ve just gotta cut the cord. One lot of people decides they’ve had enough of being bossed around by another, so they break free and stand on their own two feet. When you do that, you’ve gotta give the world a heads-up why.

Here’s the deal: everyone’s born equal, and everyone’s got rights that no king or pollie can pinch — like the right to live your life, be free, and have a fair crack at happiness. Governments are only there to look after that, and they only get power ’cause the people let ’em. If a government goes rotten and starts trampling those rights, the people can chuck it in the bin and set up a new one that actually does the job.

Marianne and Statues of Liberty

There were two kinds of “Marianne” – the personification of liberty

the “radical” bare-breasted Amazonian Marianne wielding an axe and slaying the monster of tyranny
the “conservative” Marianne clothed neck-to-toe carrying the torch of Enlightenment and the tablet of the laws

“The Female Combatants, or Who Shall” (Jan. 26, 1776)

“I’ll force you to Obedience you Rebellious Slut”!
“Liberty Liberty for ever Mother while I exist”

Prud’hon, “La Liberté” (1790s)

The Statue of Liberty

François Rude, “La Marseillaise” (The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792), 1833–6, Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile

The Head of Liberty at the World’s Fair (Paris, 1878): Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, “Liberty Enlightening the World” (The Statue of Liberty) (1870??, 1886).

Franklin J. Schaffner, “The Planet of the Apes” (1968)

Klinger as Lady Liberty in MAS*H (1975)

Dolly Parton as Lady Liberty (1976)

Eugène Delacroix, “Liberty leading the People on the Barricades” (1830)

David M. Hart, “Libertas sub Cruce Australis” (Liberty under the Light of the Southern Cross) (2026) (1790s)

Symbols of Resistance: “Don’t tread on me”

Benjamin Franklin, “Join or Die” (1754) – originally designed to encourgage unified opposition to French and Indian War;l taken up and reused during the Revolution

The Gadsden flag created by an officer in late 1775 and used throughtout the conflict.

Symbol often used in modern protest movements

Singing about Liberty

Leonard Bernstein / Lillian Helman, “Candide” (1956)

Peter H. Hunt and Peter Stone, “1776” (1969, 1972)

used text from contemporary letters and diaries
focused on John and Abigail Adams
ending of the film shows delegates signing the DoI and assuming the positions taken in the picture “Congress voting Independence: by Robert Edge Pine and Edward Savage (1784, 1801)

Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton” (2015)

important role played by Hamilton’s wife Eliza Schuyler
won lots of prizes but it was not about any of the “liberal” or libertarian participants in the Revolution (Paine, Jefferson, Mason) but one of the least liberal; Hamilton was a strong defender of a strong central govenment, tariffs and other government asssistance to domestic industry (what became known as the “Anerican system” of state assisted economic development)

The ending of the film with Thomas Jefferson signing the DoI in the film of the musical “1776” (1972) based on Robert Edge Pine, “Congress voting Independence” (1784)

Odds and Ends

Topher Field designed T-Shirt: “Too much 1984. Not enough 1776”

The frontyard of a patriot in our old neighborhood in Indianapolis

Conclusion: Success or Failure?

Success
- the colonies achieved independence
- a federal republican government with limited powers was established
- it was a model for France, other parts of Europe, and Latin America
Failure
- the government did not stay limited for long
- large groups were excluded from enjoying full rights under the law: slaves, women, native Americans
- the notion of “natural rights” (to life, liberty, and property) embodied in the DoI and BoR are no longer widely accepted

Reflections on Liberty & Power