When comparing the Declaration of Independence (henceforth known as simply the ‘Declaration’) with the Constitution of the United States of America, it becomes apparent that there is a staunch contrast in interests and intents amongst the two documents. While the Declaration appears as a passionate outcry of abuse and emancipation for the colonists, the Constitution revokes such revolutionary presence and institutes a Bourgeois liberal government. The respective tone of the Declaration is that of raw emotion driven from a chain of events that left them alienated, infuriated, and desperate to break away from Great Britain. The Constitution on the other hand is setting for the plans for a new type of government that yields considerable power; contrasting the wishes of the early republicans.
It is this contrast between Hamiltonian Federalism and Jeffersonian republicanism that separates the two documents; most notably when observing the signers of each respective document. There are few men who signed both documents: George Read, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, and James Wilson. There are significant men’s names that are missing from each document; such as Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and John Adams stand out the most. Many of those who didn’t sign the Constitution were doing so on behalf of their acceptance of the previous system of the government, i.e. the Articles of Confederation.
This gives us yet another point of insight into the heated debate between the competing interests of both groups of signers. If we speculate what these two documents would read had we found no common signers, it (the Constitution) would have dictated a government that was much less ‘republican’ than it currently is. Whatever connections that can be made between the two documents would surely have been coincidental had signers of the Declaration of Independence had taken no part in the signing or creation of the Constitution of the United States. If the two lists were exactly the same, Jeffersonian republicanism might have had a more significant existence in the formation of the Constitution. This could potentially result in a government much more established on the principles that were so passionately outlined in the Declaration of Independence, rather than the notion of creating a future liberal capitalist monolith.
The furthering contention of republicanism vs. federalism is apparent throughout both documents. The outlying political philosophy of the Declaration is that of a revolutionary outlook on government that is highly concentrated on the rights of individual citizens and the detachment from governmental bodies capable of repression and tyranny. This lies extensively within Jeffersonian republicanism; but also displays significant correlations with contemporary paleolibertarianism. Paleolibertarianism is a faction of libertarianism that emphasizes a monarchist point of view on government, while maintaining traditional conservative values in social thought. While it would be absurd to pigeonhole the entire document into these two philosophies (republicanism and paleolibertarianism); elements of these said philosophies seem prominent within the documents and explain a great deal of the fervor the United States demonstrates for notions such as “freedom” and “democracy.
The major philosophy of the Constitution was the contemporary notion of Federalism, outlined in the Federalist Papers and exhausted by author and signatory Alexander Hamilton. The philosophy throughout the Constitution is that of which adheres much more strictly to organized and structured government. The conflict of interests this created with the republicans was the inherent belief in executive powers of the government that was outlined in the Constitution. The basic political philosophy describes a government that is balanced via specific checks authorized by the Constitution, and limited in many ways from authoritarian leadership. However, a sense of distrust in democratic principles is prevalent throughout the Constitution, as can be seen in such institutions as the electoral college, and other means of limiting direct government of the people. The main subtle difference between the Constitution and Declaration isn’t solely in their political philosophies, but also in their presentation of such.
The Declaration of Independence is a rather straightforward outcry against British tyranny and the necessity (according to the authors) of an independent union of states, i.e. the United States. The Constitution on the other hand lacks the emotion, the straightforwardness, and overall excitement. It is rather a complex set of guidelines for which the government is to be modeled after and operator’s manual for utilizing the government for regular duty. The Constitution rarely gets looked at as an entity of political ideology, yet it maintains a strict Federalist work with scattered Republican concessions (Bill of Rights). The revolutionary sentiments that were so evident in the writing of the Declaration of Independence would evolve into the reactionary nature of the future capitalist state outlined in the Constitution.
Amidst the Declaration of Independence lies a long list of allegations of abuses laid out by the colonists against King George III of England. The fear of these abuses occurring within the newly found country played an integral role in the drawing of the Bill of Rights. A number of the first ten amendments to the Constitution are answers to specific abuses. For instance, in regards to the charge of King George III making judges dependent on his will alone, as well has his denial of the right to a trial by jury; the Constitution dictates that all citizens shall enjoy the right to a “speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.” By stating that defendants shall be tried in the district in which the supposed crime was committed, the authors of the Bill of Rights were also addressing the issue in which King George was transporting colonists over seas to be tried for “pretended” offences.
Other instances where the Constitution directly addresses issues of abuse by the King can be found in Article III of the Constitution, declaring that no soldiers may be quartered in private homes in times of peace. This was a serious concern of the colonists that bore great burdens on the public at the time, and was a major complaint of British rule at the time. Nowadays, however, this seems to be a less significant issue nonetheless. To generalize the response to a number of the complaints in which the authors of the Declaration of Independence felt they were victim to; the authors of the Bill of Rights set a precedent in which citizens’ individual rights shall be protected and preserved by the Constitution, which can be seen in Article IX: “the enumeration of the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” This (and other articles) set a legal standard for which rights would be protected from government interference, which remains a staple of American politics even to this day.
In conclusion, the contrasting elements of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States establishes two varying beliefs and values that evolved from the time of revolution, to the time of establishing a new state. The Federalist philosophies succeeded the Republican nature of the American Revolution and would eventually pave the way for an industrialized capitalist state. While the Constitution differed greatly in many respects to the Declaration of Independence, it also contained a “Bill of Rights” which preserved some of the revolutionary sentiments that engulfed the country only a decade earlier. The history of the United States from the period of victory over the British to the mid-1800’s was a time of contention between Republicans and Federalists, and their respective documents retain a quasi-religious admiration from the American people to this day. While the Constitution may be take priority as the official “law of the land,” the Declaration of Independence remains one of the most respected and sought after landmarks of the United States, even to this day.
