Thomas Jefferson Trial By Revolution Summary

Trial by Revolution
In defiance of the common deprivation of Trial by Jury to the people of the British-American Colonies, Thomas Jefferson presents the United States Declaration of Independence as an opening statement of legal complaints levied against the King of Great Britain, and as an appeal to the reason and intellect of all enlightened men across time as the jury, and before Nature’s God as the Judge holding the power to grant the Right to govern in favor of the winning party. Thomas Jefferson establishes his case against Britain on ideas introduced in the Religious Awakening movement and the Era of Enlightenment. In the first part of the document, Jefferson describes the theoretical role of government and theoretical reasons for dissention

He states “to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” In this statement, Jefferson contends that governments do not establish their authority from gods or kings, but instead by the willful submission of the people being governed, whereby they agree to give up some freedom in exchange for the protection of the balance of their natural rights. Jefferson’s ideas of natural rights are clearly influenced from “Chapter VII: Of Political or Civil Society” in John Locke’s publication Two Treatises of Government. In this chapter, Locke alludes to natural rights as life, liberty, and estate. The concept of life, liberty, and estate (or property) can most likely be taken to mean that individuals should have the right to live, the right to think however they want, and the right to labor. Since labor is the mechanism by which one independently acquires property necessary for subsistence and savings, one can surmise that labor can also mean the right to property or estate. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson slightly modifies Locke’s concept of natural rights to express them as “unalienable Rights” that are “endowed by their Creator” and not government and “that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Both Jefferson and Locke contend that it is the Law of Nature for governments to protect these Rights. If the government fails this mandate in a manner that reduces the governed to Despotism, the oppressed will discover that the power of the government is derived from their submission, and they have a willful duty to dissolve their association, break free, or even organize to overthrow the