Steven Horwitz reflects on American Independence Day
The Declaration of Independence: a radical liberal document
Steven Horwitz - July 4, 2008
As those of us in the U.S. celebrate our 232nd birthday, we will hear many folks comment on how the 4th of July celebrates freedom and democracy. Indeed it does, but too often the kinds of freedoms that the day celebrates and that are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence are too narrowly focused on those associated with participation in the democratic process. Yes, we were subject to the British monarchy and we were unable to make many of our own governing decisions ourselves. But merely replacing a king with tyrannical majority rule would have enhanced our individual freedom precious little. The really radical message of the Declaration, and what the 4th of July should really be celebrating, is its message of individual freedom and the need to protect our rights from tyrannical governments, no matter how democratic.
The Declaration celebrates the “inalienable” rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It also argues that when “any form of government” becomes “destructive” of its end of protecting those rights, it is the right of the “people to alter or abolish it.” The core of the Declaration is not that the British government was “undemocratic,” but that it was interfering with the legitimate rights of the colonists to pursue their life, liberty, and happiness as they saw fit.
And that is what the holiday is ultimately about: a statement by a group of freedom-loving men that put forth the radical idea that governments exist to protect our rights and no more, and any form of government that fails in that task is fair game for a revolution. The 4th of July is a day to remember that democracy is just a means, and that freedom is the valuable end it is supposed to protect.
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Steven Horwitz is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University