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Is The Theme Of American Scripture: Making The Declaration Of Independence By Pauline Maier

1184 Words5 Pages

Faith Stevenson American Scripture American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence is a book by Pauline Maier. The main focus of this book is to look back at the Declaration of Independence and realize its true meaning and the making of it. Maier explains that the Declaration of Independence is the embodiment of the American mind and historical experience, not so much the product of Thomas Jefferson or of some British philosophy of natural rights. The Declaration is more than that and not owed credit to one author. Citizens and the Second Continental Congress played a large role in creating the Declaration of Independence. She also wants to convey that the Declaration of Independence was not meant to be sacred scripture for our …show more content…

There are 90 some declarations that she includes that are the “other Declarations of Independence”. They are all very similar and this helps her argument that The Declaration of Independence is actually an expression of the American mind as opposed to just the author, this line from the book helps show this, “Despite their shortcomings, the state and local declarations of independence offer the best opportunity to hear the voice of the people from the spring of 1776” (Maier 49). The evidence above greatly backs up the idea that the Declaration of Independence was not the credit of one author but many, since the Declaration of Independence is really composed of the thoughts and ideas of many. Jefferson was the one who wrote the draft for the Declaration, but the committee and Congress reviewed and revised it, “the efforts of these five men produced a workable draft that the Congress itself, sitting as the Committee of the Whole, made into a distinguished document by an act of group editing that has to be one of the great marvels of history” (Maier …show more content…

These statements are said in respect to what the articles have documents from those who lived and participated in the making of the Declaration. From my reading and interpretation I see a direct link between the evidence that Maier presents and her conclusions. I too would make the same conclusions. In reality I do not see how you could come to another conclusion when it comes to how many people really put together the Declaration of Independence. The evidence clearly shows that there were many levels of people and drafting that went into creating the Declaration starting with the people and the local governments and continuing on to the final revisions that created the final product that is official still

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