What Role Did Republicanism Play In The Declaration Of Independence
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The emergence and importance of republicanism to the early Republic came to define the entire pre-Civil War period. The basic idea of republicanism is the power to do as one likes. This political values system has been in place since the American Revolution. Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence are two very important philosophical pieces that contribute to the makings of republicanism. Republicanism emerged in the 18th century when colonists begun to realize that parliament was far too distant to lead them properly. As the colonists felt less and less free, the ideology of “republicanism” emerged as the colonial definition of liberty. This is what led to the makings of the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration…show more content… Many ideas came to punctuate American Enlightenment thinking: liberalism, republicanism, conservatism, tolerance and more. Most of these were shared with European Enlightenment thinkers, but in some instances they took a uniquely American form. The Enlightenment's role in the revolution was sculpted by John Locke. He was extremely influential during the time with the method of tabula rasa which begun disproving the Calvinist theory. Classic republicanism differed from early liberalism because the rights were not thought to be granted by God in a pre-state of nature, but were the products of living in society. Jefferson stated that "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." This is close to what Locke said, but not exactly because he stated that the third “natural law" should be the right to property. The Social Contract theory, theorized by Locke, is that when people weren’t pleased with the problems and attitudes of the government it was their right and responsibility to change the