The Declaration of Independence: A Study on the History of Political Ideas

Carl Lotus Becker (author)
Thomas Jefferson (author)

An examination of the political ideas behind the Declaration of Independence. Becker examines the theory of natural rights, the view the colonists had of their place in the British Empire, and the literary qualities of the Declaration.

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Carl Becker explains the Declaration as a classic document of the Age of Enlightenment, a conscious product of the natural rights philosophy of John Locke and other British thinkers, and a text that spoke powerfully to an international audience.