The Declaration of Independence and the Preamble of the Constitution

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution have many similarities. After all, the Constitution was written with respect to what the colonists declared they wanted in the Declaration of Independence. Among these similarities is the fact that both consistently explain the power of the people. You can read it over and over again that the people have control when it comes to the government and I believe it is a crucial part of each document.

My first example comes from the Declaration of Independence.  When talking about unalienable rights, it states, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” This clearly states that the people are in control of those running the government and if those people become destructive, the citizens have the right to remove them from their position. It was an important piece to the colonist’s new government because of their previous situation.

Before they declared their independence there was one thing in particular that aggravated the colonists. “Taxation without Representation” became a popular saying and still is well known to this day. It was one of the many grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence and the final straw. It relates to the principle that the people have a say because in this case, they didn’t. It was something that needed to be changed when they began to move forward. Without an opportunity to vote on the tax coming their way, the people were powerless. They had no say and as you’d imagine, that is an ideal right for the people of any country.

My final example to support this idea comes from the Constitution. It is located in several articles of this document and gives the people the power to vote for several positions in the government. The most obvious is the President of the United States but most positions on every level of the government allows the people to make their choice. Unlike the previous government under the King of Great Britain, leadership and power will not come from you bloodline or your wealth but rather if the people of your country believe you are the best option.

After looking through both documents I found that the principle of the people having a say in their government was a central theme. It was one of the reasons the colonists wrote the Declaration of Independence and the idea was implemented throughout the Constitution. Without this principle being implemented in our lives today, we would find our government unjust and too powerful and that is why this is so significant.