Will I love American Scripture?

This book is the essential next stop for a reading study on the Declaration.

Her 1997 study is like a 5-course meal, treating you to a sumptuous tour through the English precedents that were very much on the delegates' minds in 1776, how Jefferson wrote the text, how Congress edited it, and how it turned into a sacred relic in the years after 1776.

My underlining and margin writing are all over this book. I learned so much from it. Wonderfully written, too. 

The U.S. Constitution is the document that spells out the framework of American government. In contrast, the Declaration is something of a “one and done” document; interesting for historical reasons, but not relevant to modern governance.

And yet…of the two documents, the Declaration of Independence has a stronger hold on American emotions. Both documents have their own holiday, but not many Americans celebrate Constitution Day, which falls on each September 17th, reserving fireworks and outdoor meals for the Fourth of July instead.

Why? According to the late MIT historian Pauline Maier, the Declaration has become a kind of… show more.

All of the Parliamentary laws and massacres ultimately led to the day in July 1776 when the delegates at the Second Continental Congress declared their independence from King George III. Pauline Maier looks at the founding document of the United States in-depth, explaining how colonial grievances against the Quartering Act and other laws became the poetry we still know. I really like how Maier traces the ideas contained in the Declaration and how Thomas Jefferson’s words were altered in congress, in particular, removing passages that condemned the king for slavery. Ultimately, she leaves us thinking about the impact of the… show more.