“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry before the House of Burgesses arguing in favor of revolting against the British Empire, March 23, 1775
“All boys love liberty, ‘til experience convinces them they are not so fit to govern themselves as they imagined.” – Samuel Johnson in an evening conversation when a young lover of liberty was mentioned, April 8, 1779
Declarations of Independence:
Historical Precedents, the Benchmark American Declaration of Independence and Recent Conflicts
Independence Day, 2008
Although the declaration of a nation’s independence has become commonplace, it was once a rare occurrence. New states were formerly created not by the citizenry but through dynastic wedding dowries among imperials or through war treaty resolutions.
By the Numbers
Excluding dependent territories, political entities that do not have general international recognition and Vatican City, there are nearly 200 current member states of the United Nations. Before the thirteen North American colonies united in their official declaration to fight for independence from Great Britain in 1776, only two other nations had written declarations of their independence from their rulers, each occurring more than two centuries apart. After July 4, 1776, the practice has become significantly more common. There were 20 declarations of independence in the nineteenth century (Texas did so twice), 37 declarations in the twentieth century, and two declarations already in the first eight years of the twenty-first century.
Historical Precedents Before America’s Independence
The first nation to declare sovereignty from their leader via paperwork was Scotland in their Declaration of Arbroath, dated April 6, 1320. In the Declaration, the Scots argued to Pope John XXII that Scotland had previously been a sovereign territory, and that the wishes of the collective Scottish nobility were greater than those of a single monarch, particularly one from England. “It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom,” the document states, “for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
The second nation to declare independence did so by telling their ruler, years into their revolution against him, that he had left them! Areas of the Netherlands and what is now part of Belgium had been remotely ruled by Charles V of Spain from 1544 to 1555 before authority over them was transferred to his son, Philip II. Two decades later, revolts against Philip’s viceroys broke out and on June 14, 1581, four representatives of the Dutch Revolt wrote the Oath of Abjuration, informing Philip that, in their eyes, he had deserted his throne. Meanwhile, the Dutch had already replaced Philip with François, Duke of Alençon and Anjou.
The Benchmark
The third nation to draft a declaration of independence was the thirteen American colonies of Britain. Along with France and Spain, Britain had colonized North America for over 150 years before the American War of Independence. Throughout the 1760s, the rule of the British Parliament and King George III became so opposed in the American colonies to the extent of the colonists establishing a shadow government in preparation for the widespread revolution that began in April of 1775. By June of 1776, the Second Continental Congress resolved to officially declare independence from Britain.
A Committee of Five, including future Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, with Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Roger Livingston (unsigned), drafted The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, an act of the Second Continental Congress, throughout that June. On July 2, all colonies at the Congress voted for the act except for New York, which abstained for a week. On July 4, revisions to the document were completed and over 150 copies were printed overnight to be distributed throughout the colonies. The document was officially signed by most delegates on August 2 and it was delivered to Britain later that month. In the Declaration, the United States listed over two dozen reasons why George III was a tyrant “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
After six and a half years of war on American soil, the final British General to surrender was Charles Cornwallis, who did so at Yorktown, VA on October 19, 1781. American allies, including Spain and France, continued to fight proxy wars against Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. The last British troops on American soil left New York City on November 25, 1783, and the United States Congress ratified the Treaty on January 14, 1784.
Recent Conflicts
The most recent territory to have declared its independence is Kosovo, which did so on February 17, 2008, after nearly a decade of UN administration. Kosovo is at the southernmost region of Serbia and is landlocked by Macedonia, Montenegro, and Albania, which was the only neighboring state that was not part of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia formed at the end of World War I. Kosovo is populated by approximately 2 million Albanians and 100,000 Serbians. This ethnic distinction within Serbia has been the source of decades of oppression and violence. The United States and major European states have recognized Kosovo’s sovereignty, although Serbia and Russia are fighting to keep Kosovo out of the United Nations.
The second-most recent nation to have declared its independence was Montenegro, which did so on June 3, 2006, also from Serbia after having restructured the two nations’ union only three years earlier, after a decade as the last remnants of Yugoslavia.
Additional Information
Full text of The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
BBC country profiles on Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and Montenegro
A BBC story on Serbia’s recent effort to undermine Kosovo’s sovereignty
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 (me smiling on a lovely Roman autobus)
