Most everyone is quite familiar with the Declaration of Independence, and especially the clause “…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.” Yet, somehow, forgotten within the skeins of time, is the fact that the majority of the words of that Declaration of Independence actually comes after that noble Declaration, which thereby consists of a list of some detailed twenty-seven complaints that the colonists had against King George III.
One might ask, why did the colonists even bother with the complaints; of which, the correct answer to that is that at the time of the Declaration of Independence, the colonists were British subjects, and therefore under the aegis of King George III, signifying that if they really so wished to declared their independence, that they truly did need to make a valid case to the world as to the reasons, so of. After all, if those colonists were hoping to get material aid, including military assistance from historic enemies of Great Britain, it would behoove them to be able to have a compelling story to sell to the outside world.
Additionally, it was important to convince fellow colonists, that the proposed rebellion against Great Britain, was indeed a worthy and necessary objective; of which, the reasons for such, made not only eminent sense for the well-being of those colonists, but that tellingly that these reasons were not going to be successfully resolved, except through independence by those colonists, now formed into a United States, as opposed to agreeing to some sort of middling middle ground, compromise, or something else of less than satisfactory ilk with Great Britain.
In truth, the colonists wished to draw the line in the sand, and pretty much wanted to make it quite clear to their fellow colonists, that they were either for independence, or for their continual dependency upon a distant country; of which, that country, as signified through the list of twenty-seven complaints, didn’t have their best interests in mind. Further to the point, this was a day and age, in which self-governance, by, for, and of the people, didn’t exist on any meaningful level in any country of significance, of which, the colonists needed to come across as organized, perceptive, adept, and coordinated. This was a time when Kings were the type of entity, that needed to be properly vilified on a level that neutral parties would recognize as being reasonable within the context of those complaints, so that a cry for independence, would be met with a vociferous positive response, both internally as well as externally.
We should remember well, that all those that are in rebellion against a King, have for a certainty, thrown down the gauntlet; and most Kings do not take kindly to any sort of rebellion, or revolt against their authority, in which those that so pledge their honor, their lives, and their fortunes to do so, aren’t just writing words; they are, in fact, pledging those very things. While posterity may have forgotten about the importance of those twenty-seven complaints so made by those colonists specifically against their king; it was those complaints that built the justification for their Declaration of Independence, and the end result is what so still exists today, the United States of America.