100 Documents That Changed the World Read online

  The most famous signature on the Declaration of Independence is that of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. Hancock’s flamboyant signature became iconic, and ‘John Hancock’ emerged in the United States as an informal synonym for ‘signature’.

  Declaration of Independence

  (1776)

  Drafted in the language of the Enlightenment by Thomas Jefferson between 11 June and 28 June 1776, the Declaration of Independence formally dissolves Great Britain’s political control over the American colonies, advancing a revolutionary charter intended to unite Americans under the banner of liberty and the consent of the governed.

  When armed conflict between bands of rebellious American expatriates and British soldiers began in Massachusetts in April 1775, the rebels were ostensibly opposing perceived incursions against their rights as subjects of the British crown. But as the rebellion burgeoned into the Revolutionary War, delegates of the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia to create a charter for their movement. In mid-June 1776, a small committee was tasked with crafting a motivational political statement explaining the colonies’ decision to formally declare their independence.

  Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, a gifted designer and polymath who had earned a reputation as an eloquent voice for the patriotic cause after his publication of ‘A Summary View of the Rights of British America’ (1774) and ‘Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms’ (1775), drafted the document that would become the Declaration of Independence. The language was intended to galvanize support for the cause.

  Jefferson’s draft was made up of an introduction, a preamble, a body (divided into two sections) and a conclusion. The introduction effectively stated that it had become ‘necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands’ to Britain, and thus they needed to ‘declare the causes’. While the body of the document outlined a list of grievances against the British crown, the preamble includes its most famous passage:

  We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.

  The Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on 2 July and formally declared it on 4 July, the date celebrated as the birth of American independence. As the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right to choose their own government, the Declaration of Independence became a significant landmark in the history of democracy. In addition to its importance in the fate of the fledgling American nation, it would also exert a tremendous influence outside the United States, most memorably in France during the French Revolution. Together with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence is considered the first of the three essential founding documents of the United States government – and the one proving hardest to live up to.

  The Wealth of Nations

  (1776)

  After studying the economic and social impact of the early Industrial Revolution, the Scottish political economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith provides a revolutionary new theory of the nature and causes of wealth – arguing that if people are simply allowed to better themselves without government interference, everyone will benefit.

  During the late 18th century the dominant theory of political economy prevailing in much of Europe including Britain was mercantilism, which held that a nation’s wealth derived from the amount of bullion and goods that stayed within its borders. The mercantile system entailed establishing valuable colonies and a strong merchant marine, and developing useful domestic industries that would enable the nation to attain a favourable balance of trade. This required considerable government regulation of a nation’s economy in order to increase its power over rival nations.

  In 1776, however, the Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith (1723–90) posited a new theory of political economy which shifted the definition of national wealth to a different standard based on labour. After toiling over the manuscript for more than 15 years before sending it to press, Smith’s 900-page magnum opus, entitled An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, first appeared on 9 March 1776, at a time of great social and political ferment – the heyday of the Enlightenment, the early Industrial Revolution, and the erupting American Revolution – and his new and systematic analysis of political economy signalled the dawn of modern capitalism and economics, at a critical moment.

  Contrary to mercantilist theory, Smith argues that free trade increases the wealth of nations by providing more occasion for labour to create more wealth. He contends that the key to improvement for the masses is an increase in labour, productivity and workforce, by the division of labour and other means. Breaking with many traditional Christian beliefs that self-interested action is immoral, Smith writes, ‘[M]an’s self-interest is God’s providence.’ If government would simply refrain from interfering with free competition, he argues, the marketplace would resolve industrial problems, maximum efficiency would be achieved and wealth would increase.

  Although Smith’s document amounted to a capitalist manifesto, he was not uncritical. ‘Our merchants and masters complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price and lessening the sale of goods,’ he writes. ‘They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.’

  Five editions of The Wealth of Nations were published during Smith’s lifetime and it made him rich and famous. He always kept his manuscript close at hand and coveted it above other possessions. But at his request, the original papers were burned upon his death in 1790 – an act of self-interest in keeping with his theory.

  Few works in economics have had as much influence. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus all cited it as a major shaper of their thinking. Margaret Thatcher toted a copy in her handbag. The work, and the theory, continues to win both praise and criticism.

  Adam Smith with a copy of his magnum opus. The first edition sold out in six months.

  The Wealth of Nations sealed its author’s reputation as the father of modern economics. A first edition can sell for as much as $100,000 today.

  Jacob Shallus, an assistant clerk of the Pennsylvania State Assembly, was paid 30 dollars ‘to transcribe & engross’ all 4,543 words of the document.

  Constitution of the United States

  (1787)

  After a five-month-long discussion, a Federal Convention at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall produces a four-page parchment document which is signed by 39 of the 55 attending delegates. The Constitution of the United States, describing how the new national government shall operate, begins with the words, ‘We the people…’

  The most important document in United States history, and one of the key legal-governmental documents that changed the world, was signed on 17 September 1787, four years after the Treaty of Paris ended the American War of Independence. The signers included representatives of all of the original Thirteen Colonies (except Rhode Island) as well as the convention’s impoverished secretary, William Jackson, who attested to the document’s authenticity and became its 40th signer. Entitled the Constitution of the United States, its purpose was to delineate a proper federal government representing each state.

  Based on extensive debate, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia had concluded that mere amendment of the existing Articles of Confederation would not be sufficient for the new nation, so therefore they would need to build an entirely new structure of supreme law from scratch.

  The resulting document comprised seven articles. The first three delineated the doctr
ine of separation of powers, to be exercised by three branches of government – legislative, executive and judicial; articles four to six spelled out the concept of federalism and the rights and responsibilities of the states in relationship to the central body; and article seven established the procedures for ratification of the Constitution.

  Since the Constitution has come into force, it has added 27 amendments. The first 10, known as the Bill of Rights, enacted in 1791, established specific protections of individual liberty and justice and placed restrictions on the powers of government. Most of the others have defined new civil rights, such as the right to be free from slavery and the right of women to vote. The courts have also built a huge and ever-changing body of constitutional interpretation, which has further added to the document’s meaning and made it a ‘living document’ by which the United States has continued to function (although some justices want to keep it lifeless – frozen in its original meaning of centuries ago). The Constitution has also influenced the development of other constitutions and declarations around the world.

  Yet despite its importance as the nation’s foundational document, the original parchment was mislaid for several years until a publisher tracked it down in 1846. Luckily it had escaped destruction when the British burned Washington in the War of 1812. In 1883, another searcher discovered the rolled-up parchment stored in a small tin box on a closet floor at the State, War and Navy Building. It eventually ended up with the Declaration of Independence in the Library of Congress, and was later moved to Fort Knox.

  Since 1952 the document (which is also known as the ‘Charters of Freedom’) has been displayed in the National Archives in Washington, DC, encased in inert helium gas under optimum conditions of temperature, light and humidity.

  Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

  (1789)

  Inspired by the American Revolution, a group of French nobles led by General Lafayette drafts a political manifesto declaring universal rights built upon liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression – the founding text of the French Revolution.

  On 11 July 1789 Paris was on the verge of armed revolt against King Louis XVI. General Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), the French military commander who had aided the victorious rebels in the American Revolution, carried a brief handwritten document into the new National Assembly. He had drafted it with assistance from a few other Frenchmen and his close personal friend, then the American ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson.

  Jefferson, besides being the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, had long been advocating a bill of rights for the American Constitution – an effort that was now bearing fruit, as James Madison had introduced some of its provisions in New York on 8 June. Jefferson and Lafayette had been discussing similar options for France as well when Jefferson was in Paris.

  France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen embodied many of Rousseau’s and Montesquieu’s ideas; and like America’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution, it laid down certain ‘natural, unalienable and sacred’ rights along with ‘simple and incontestable principles’ upon which citizens could rely.

  First among its 17 articles was the tenet that ‘Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.’ The document declared that ‘[s]ocial distinctions may be founded only upon the general good,’ and ‘The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man,’ which were defined as ‘liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.’ Sovereignty resides in the nation, not an individual. ‘Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else’ and law could ‘only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society.’ ‘Law is the expression of the general will,’ and every citizen has the power to participate in government. Arbitrary arrests and imprisonments are outlawed. Suspects are presumed innocent until declared guilty. Persons shall not be persecuted for their opinions or religious views. ‘Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.’ The expense of government must be borne equitably. Citizens have the right to demand accountability from their public agents. The rule of law and separation of powers are both essential. And property is deemed ‘an inviolable and sacred right.’

  The declaration was approved by the National Assembly on 26 August 1789, becoming the foundational document of revolutionary France and the first step towards a new national constitution. The original handwritten copy is in the Louvre.

  This 1789 painting of the Declaration by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier is the most widely reproduced version of the document.

  Olympe de Gouges based her feminist manifesto on the official Declaration of 1789. She challenged the Revolution’s unequal treatment of women by addressing each point of the earlier Declaration and making the language gender-equal. ‘Man,’ she asked, ‘are you capable of being just?’

  Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen

  (1791)

  Angry that France’s lofty Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the new Constitution both ignore women’s rights, a courageous feminist writer and activist presents her own radical declaration demanding equal treatment. And how will the Revolution respond?

  When France’s National Assembly failed to extend civil and political equality to women, even despite a feminist outcry, the actress, playwright and pamphleteer Olympe de Gouges (1748–93) decided to press the case.

  Born into a petit bourgeoisie household in southwest France, and later widowed, de Gouges had become romantically involved with a wealthy man who supported her activism in antislavery and other risky political causes. This had enabled her to pen many political pamphlets and socially conscious plays that championed human rights for all.

  Considering the vital role that women had performed in the French Revolution and French society, de Gouges was disenchanted that the Revolution’s all-male leadership had turned their backs on women’s rights. She and other feminists wanted action on suffrage, legal equality in marriage, the right of abused women to divorce their spouses and other pressing issues.

  So in 1791 de Gouges took a risk by publishing a brief manifesto, the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, stating what her male counterparts had omitted. She even demanded that the National Assembly immediately enact her declaration as law. De Gouges’s trenchant polemic parodied the sacrosanct Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, using similar Enlightenment reasoning to expose the Revolution’s continuing unequal treatment of women – an act of extraordinary boldness given the dangerous climate at that time.

  In a scathing preamble, de Gouges blamed much of France’s misfortune and corruption on its oppression of women and their rights. Following the same outline as the previous declaration, she went down the list of rights point by point to make the language gender-equal.

  Article I, for example, now stated: ‘Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights.’ Article VI established: ‘All citizens including women are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices and employments, according to their capacity, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.’

  In a rousing postscript, de Gouges exhorted women to wake up and discover they too had the rights proclaimed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. ‘What have women gained from the French Revolution?’ she asked. ‘This revolution will only take effect when all women become fully aware of their deplorable condition, and of the rights they have lost in society.’

  Contrary to her demands, the National Assembly didn’t immediately enact her brave declaration. Instead, under the Reign of Terror, Olympe de Gouges was condemned as an ‘unnatural woman’ and sent to the guillotine in November 1793. The rights she proposed were not granted until the Constitution of the French Fourth Republic was adopted in 1946.

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bsp; Louisiana Purchase

  (1803)

  By means of fortuitous circumstances, the young United States stands to double its size by acquiring from Napoleon a vast expanse of France’s colonial holdings in North America for a bargain sum – but will President Jefferson’s unprecedented purchase document stand up in the Supreme Court and Congress?

  Shortly after taking office in 1801, one of the major national security and trade concerns confronting the new president, Thomas Jefferson, involved the strategic importance of the Mississippi River, and especially the port of New Orleans – areas that belonged to France, not the United States.

  Upon learning that Napoleon was secretly considering the revival of a French colonial empire in North America, Jefferson wished to avoid any future conflict regarding that region, particularly as it might involve America’s natural friend and ally, France.

  So he instructed his minister in Paris, Robert Livingston, to try to negotiate a deal to buy a tract of land on the lower Mississippi, or, if that failed, to seek an irrevocable guarantee from France for America’s free navigation and the right of deposit. Jefferson also dispatched his friend James Monroe as Minister Plenipotentiary to France in an effort to negotiate for the purchase of New Orleans and west Florida for an amount ranging from $2 million to $10 million.

  Monroe arrived in France to find that Napoleon – stunned by his losses in the bloody slave revolt in Haiti, and in anticipation of his coming war with Great Britain – had abandoned his dreams of a North American empire in favour of obtaining funds for other needs. As the negotiations got underway, the Americans were dumbfounded when the French asked how much the US was willing to pay for France’s entire Louisiana territory.