250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (12-Part Series)

This year, we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and it is a time to reflect on where we are as a nation and what we can do to ensure that our liberties, which were secured through the American Revolution, remain at the forefront of political thought. Although our modern federal government treats our rights more like privileges granted by the executive, bureaucratic, legislative, and judicial branches instead of as the natural (God-given) rights that they are, we can still take to heart the lessons of the past to better understand where we should be today. The American founding, whether largely myth and legend or based in historical reality, gives us inspiration for how we can preserve our principles and take control of our political destiny.

The below series on the leadup to the Declaration of Independence was released in individual parts on social media as a modified version of a previous article that I had written three years ago (two years ago, I also wrote an analysis of the Declaration itself). The series is now available in its entirety here, and I hope that everyone has a wonderful July 4^th weekend and takes some time to read or listen to content related to why we celebrate the holiday.

Introduction [posted 05/25/26]

Most people only know Samuel Adams as the face of the Boston Beer Company’s brand of lager and ale, but without him, the American Revolution may not have kicked off as it did. From protest against taxes to hyping up the Boston Massacre and opposing British troops occupying the city to the Committees of Correspondence to the Continental Congress, his efforts were instrumental. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States of America, stay tuned for some history posts related to these events. If you want the whole story all at once, the below is an article I wrote about three years ago.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 1: The Sugar Act [posted 05/27/26]

The French and Indian War gave rise to the British interest in recouping costs that the colonists supposedly shared a responsibility in paying (price of security), but in response to the boycotting of products under the existing taxes, the Sugar Act was enacted in 1764 to lower the tax fee but expand the items being taxed and strengthen enforcement of the laws (law and order, right?). Samuel Adams and James Otis led the charge in Boston to resist by continuing and increasing the boycotts, adopting a formal document in the Massachusetts Assembly (nine colonies listed grievances), raising awareness of the tyranny (spreaders of disinformation?), and protesting (some of these were violent and destructive, in what many would call “domestic terrorism” today). These were the early stages of rebellion, and at this time, Otis popularized the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny” (and to think, modern Americans pay upwards of one-quarter or more of their income in taxes, and few would argue that we are truly represented in any meaningful way).

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 2: The Stamp Act [posted 05/28/26]

Similarly to the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act of 1765 was resisted, but the protests grew stronger and brought about even more violence. This was a direct tax that required legal documents, playing cards, dice, newspapers, deeds, etc. to have a stamp; and as a result, colonists burned effigies of and tarred and feathered officials, performed mock executions, broke into tax collectors’ homes to pressure them to resign, and destroyed stamps. There were also many pamphlets that were written to rally people to the cause, and Samuel Adams lobbied the Massachusetts Assembly and coordinated with other colonies to unite them for the Stamp Act Congress (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina participated), which issued a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and set a precedent for the future Continental Congress. This was the time when the Sons of Liberty became prominent.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 3: Massachusetts Circular Letter [posted 06/02/26]

The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766 (roughly a year later) due to the protests, while the Sugar Act was watered down to the Revenue Act, but it was the Townshend Acts of 1767, which taxed the colonists on china, glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea, that became the next target of the Boston rebels. Samuel Adams and James Otis concocted the Massachusetts Circular Letter (1768) to rally other colonies against the concept of “taxation without representation.” When New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New England businesses began boycotting British goods to protest the new taxes, Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Hillsdale demanded that the Circular Letter be retracted or they would face the dissolution of the Massachusetts legislature. When Royal Governor Francis Bernard followed through on the secretary’s order to revoke self-government, protests, riots, mob violence, and vandalism became so widespread that British General Thomas Gage dispatched an army (law and order, right?) into Boston to occupy the city (not unlike what President Trump decided to do with ICE agents and the National Guard during the immigration protests). Bostonians did not appreciate having their city of 15,000 people patrolled by 2,000 Red Coats, but the Circular Letter was the necessary next step in achieving unification of the colonies and rebellion by the people.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 4: The Boston Massacre [posted 06/04/26]

By 1770, Boston became chaotic, with fights between soldiers and citizens, unwarranted searches and seizures (under the Writs of Assistance) conducted in homes to ensure compliance with the law, and troops marching in formation down city streets. It finally came to a head in front of the Custom House on King Street when a mob of colonists started throwing snowballs, rocks, shells, and other objects at law enforcement officers; and when British soldiers opened fire and killed five civilians (including Crispus Attucks), Governor Thomas Hutchinson launched an investigation into the incident. Meanwhile, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere began their own interview process at Faneuil Hall to get biased accounts in order to push propaganda in favor of the “Boston Massacre” narrative (what modern left-leaning people might call “disinformation”). Although the colonists rioted and succeeded at driving forces out of Boston and onto Castle Island in the harbor, and the Townshend Acts had already been repealed (except for that on tea, as British Prime Minister Frederick North believed that some degree of control over the colonies was necessary), this was not the end of the struggle.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 5: Committees of Correspondence [posted 06/08/26]

In response to the decision by the imperial government to pay salaries of royal governors, officials, and judges out of the British treasury instead of by the colonial legislatures (taking accountability out of their hands), Samuel Adams helped organize the Committees of Correspondence in 1772, which became a network that would challenge the Crown and Parliament by setting up parallel colonial governments to manage rebellious acts (especially with the Sons of Liberty). Although almost all of the colonists still thought of themselves as British citizens, many believed that their rights were being violated (as many of us do today). The Committees of Correspondence helped form the First Continental Congress in 1774, and it planned the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 6: The Boston Tea Party [posted 06/09/26]

Samuel Adams and John Hancock grew a smuggling operation in Boston to rival the imported tea from the East India Company (a government-granted monopoly), which had been recently allowed (under the Tea Act of 1773) to sell directly to colonial ports and keep only the 3% tax from the Townshend Acts in place (Prime Minister North continued to insist on some form of control over the colonies). Even though the official tea was cheaper than that on the black market, the principle of being taxed without representation was enough for many citizens to accept the higher costs. Members of the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawks (a symbol of American identity rather than a British one), boarded the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver ships at Griffin’s Wharf and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The British government then responded with punitive actions that would set the course toward independence.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 7: The Coercive Acts [posted 06/10/26]

The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774 created several new provisions to punish Massachusetts for its actions. Under the Boston Port Act, the British military established a blockade of the city to prevent imports and exports (excluding military supplies); while the Quartering Act allowed British troops to be stationed inside any building (including people’s homes) at the cost of the colonists (this applied to all thirteen colonies). Under the Massachusetts Government Act, the state legislature was dissolved and replaced by a body of loyalists to the Crown, and the judicial system was revised to have judges handpicked by the royal governor. The governor also gained the authority to determine the location of all trials (including overseas in Great Britain or across the continent in other colonies) under the Act for the Impartial Administration of Justice (undoing the right of trial by a jury of peers established under the Magna Carta of 1215), and this was seen as an affront because John Adams had fairly represented Captain Thomas Preston and his men after the Boston Massacre. As you might be able to tell, these new laws enraged many of the colonists, who believed that their rights as Englishmen had been violated, and Massachusetts’ right of self-government effectively ended.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 8: The First Continental Congress [posted 06/11/26]

Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and Joseph Warren sprung into action to oppose the Coercive Acts by introducing the Suffolk Resolves into the newly-created First Continental Congress, which united twelve of the thirteen colonies (all but Georgia). The Resolves called for Massachusetts to become an independent state that would fully tax itself, ignore the Coercive Acts, withold money from royal officers, cut off trade with Great Britain, detain officials who arrested colonists on politically-motivated charges, and raise and train a militia to defend these claims. Although the other colonies were not yet on board with independence and still thought of themselves as British territories, Congress passed the Declaration of Rights and Grievances (Declaration and Resolves), declaring that their citizens had life, liberty, property, and participation in the legislative process as Englishmen. Congress also passed the Continental Association to boycott British goods and set up an enforcement policy for it. Common names associated with the First Continental Congress were George Washington, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, John Dickinson, Roger Sherman, John Jay, John Adams, and Samuel Adams. Thomas Jefferson, although not invited, wrote “A Summary View of the Rights of British America” to help guide the Virginia delegates.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 9: The Second Continental Congress and Lexington and Concord [posted 06/15/26]

As Samuel Adams and John Hancock stirred up more trouble as the leaders of the Massachusetts insurrection, the British government launched a military campaign to force the colony into submission. The resulting battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 (the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” being that it caused a “domino effect” for other European colonies to follow suit) failed to capture weapons or Adams or Hancock (recall “Paul Revere’s Ride”); but after the newly-formed Second Continental Congress elected Colonel George Washington as commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army, sending him to aid the rebellion (notice that he did not have the authority to go without Congress), and drafted the “Olive Branch Petition” to be sent to King George III, all thirteen colonies were considered to be in rebellion (Thomas Jefferson’s and John Dickinson’s “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms” was also passed). At a time when Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” circulated throughout the colonies, independence, though still a minority opinion, was about to become reality. Congress continued to govern the common interests of the confederation (thirteen colonies) by printing money, controlling relations with foreign powers, and supplying the army.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 10: Declaring Independence [posted 06/16/26]

By 1776, most of the colonists still thought of themselves as Englishmen who had their rights violated, but most still lived their lives without worrying about politics (like most of us do today). However, Congress was divided (with bitter debates) among those who favored reconciling their differences with the Crown, like John Dickinson and Edward Rutledge, and those who wanted independence, like Samuel Adams (who envisioned it far earlier than his contemporaries). A committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, was assembled to get ahead of the upcoming vote on independence; and Jefferson’s initial draft was marked up and sent on to the general body. On July 2nd, Richard Henry Lee’s proposal “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states” was adopted (this was the unofficial beginning of American independence); and two days later, Congress approved of the Declaration of Independence, which was the official document sent as a rallying cry. The British government would have considered anyone who signed the document over the next few months to be a traitor and terrorist. July 4th is celebrated across the United States (and admired by others around the world for inspiring other movements) as a symbol of liberty, self-determination in government, and freedom from tyranny.

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 11: Document Preamble [posted 06/29/26]

The Declaration of Independence starts out with the radical statement that governments, which are to rule only by the consent of the governed, should be (as a societal duty) replaced or changed whenever they violate the rights of the people or descend into tyranny. The right to life, liberty, property, and ability to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor (not as an entitlement) are given by God (or whatever moral system that you believe) and are not granted as privileges by government itself. Though revolutions are not frequent and should not be undertaken for mild infractions, when they are necessary, it is common courtesy to list the grievances and declare this change in government to all, including the abuser. Jefferson argued that the British government had a long history of usurpation and preventing the colonists from practicing their rights under English law, and therefore, the time had finally come where separation from Great Britain was necessary. Today, who can argue against the ideas that almost every one of the Bill of Rights is violated by the federal government on a daily basis and that the people have absolutely no say in anything that happens in Congress or the White House?

250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - Part 12: Document Grievances [posted 06/30/26]

Jefferson next delved into the specific list of grievances against King George III (and Parliament), and in doing so, he gave legitimacy to the American Revolution and declared to the world why the colonies were now a new confederation of thirteen states without any allegiance or ties to Great Britain (free to be able to conduct war, peace, and commerce in any manner). The grievances included: violating the rights of the colonists as Englishmen, disallowing for self-rule and taking away laws and charters that benefit the colonists as a whole, dissolving or suspending the colonists’ legislative bodies and sometimes moving them to inconvenient locations, interfering with the judicial system and making it bend to the king’s will, creating new offices to harass the colonists, maintaining standing armies in times of peace and quartering soldiers in colonial buildings, protecting soldiers and permitting them to kill colonists without accountability, implementing taxes and cutting off trade with the world without the colonists’ consent, preventing trial by jury and sometimes transporting suspects to other jurisdictions for trial, waging war against the colonies and destroying their towns and controlling their seas, hiring foreign mercenaries to conduct military operations against the colonies, coercing captured colonists into military service, and causing Native Americans to attack the colonies (Jefferson’s original draft included a grievance about how the British government violated the life and liberty of African people and brought them to the colonies to become slaves, but this part was omitted by the committee for obvious political reasons). The Declaration of Independence should be celebrated as one of the most important documents in human history, and on this 250th anniversary, we should take some time to reflect on whether we have upheld these principles over the years and what we can do to ensure that our rights do not fade away.