In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson argues that the King of England does not have any respect for the laws of the colonies and does not care about the rights that those laws are meant to protect. This is an important factor in the decision to declare independence because, Jefferson says, the government is supposed to exist only by the consent of the governed and only in order to protect their rights.
In the final section of the Declaration, Jefferson accuses the king of all sorts of actions that show his disrespect for the colonists’ laws and their rights. He says that the king has abolished “our most valuable laws.” He says that the king has “refused his assent” to various laws that the colonies have passed. He says that the king has closed down colonial legislatures so that they could not make any more laws. He says the king has done this because his goal is “the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”
This attitude on the part of the king is a major reason for declaring independence. There are two reasons for this. First, Jefferson says that the people have to be involved in ruling themselves. He says that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” If the king does not let the colonists govern themselves, his government has no “just powers” and it is legitimate for the colonies to declare independence. Second, Jefferson says that “governments are instituted among men” in order to protect people’s rights. If governments do not protect people’s rights, they are illegitimate and should be overthrown. If the king is trying to establish an absolute tyranny over the colonies, his government clearly does not protect the colonists’ rights. Because the king does not care about the colonists’ laws and because he wants to trample their rights, it is important for the colonies to become independent.
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