American Scripture

Though the Declaration of Independence is often presented as representing a radical break with the past, Maier argues that it is better understood as part of a longstanding tradition in British politics. Maier dates the origin of this tradition to the close of England’s Glorious Revolution in 1689, when the English Parliament created the Declaration of Rights. This Declaration laid out the rights belonging to the English people and the specific ways in which—according to Parliament—King James II had violated these rights. The American Declaration of Independence, drafted almost a century later, followed the format of the Declaration of Rights in enumerating the grievances that justified rebellion against the King. What made the Declaration radical and new was not its form or its style but rather its intention: Unlike the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution did not intend to replace the King with another monarch; rather, it was going to reject monarchy altogether and establish a republic.

Maier emphasizes the degree to which the drafters of the Declaration of Independence emulated the English Declaration of Rights of 1689.