What would be a good infomercial for the declaration of independence?

What was radical and new in the Declaration of Independence and what was old and traditional?

• What was radical and new in the Declaration of Independence and what was old and traditional? What did statements like "all men are created equal" mean in their historical context and what did they come to mean later?

• Answer:

  The answer is that nothing was new, at least not completely, and nothing was overly traditional. Thomas Jefferson drew on Enlightenment thought from the those who are known, such as John Locke, are those who are largely unknown, like Frances Hutcheson. The "social contract" theory of Locke was being invoked by a nation for the first time, which could be considered new. The concepts of "all men are created equal", "unalienable rights" and "self-evident truths" are all Enlightenment ideas. That Jefferson was able to cobble all of this together to justify separation from Britain is what makes the Declaration remarkable. He used ideas that originated within Great Britain (especially Scotland) to justify an act that started the (slow) decline of the British Empire. Of course when speaking of the ideas expressed in the Declaration, one is usually limiting himself or herself to a discussion of the document's first one-third. After that, the "list of grievances" against King George III is merely a laundry list. I assume that complaining about real and perceived injustices could be considered "old and traditional" in some respects.