Harmonizing Sentiments (PDF)

In this revised and expanded second edition of Harmonizing Sentiments: The Declaration of Independence and the Jeffersonian Idea of Self-Government, the original themes of American independence and the meaning of the pursuit of happiness have been updated in light of current controversies among historians surrounding the interpretation of the Revolution and questions of slavery and race in late eighteenth-century imperial debates. This new edition develops more thoroughly the substantive revisions made by Congress, with expanded focus on the excision of the original grievances against the king for fostering slavery and the retention of the charge of inciting domestic insurrection, to ask about the implications of these alterations in the text for the ideals of the Revolutionary movement. The original argument concerning the importance of the universalist claims of the Declaration in favor of self-government, informed by a strong distinction between state and society, remains the central interpretive theme of the work. As in the first edition, that understanding draws from multiple strands of English Whig thought in law, history, philosophy, and political economy, which inspired the patriot cause and contrasts these views with their loyalist adversaries. The current work underscores the importance of those core themes by highlighting the different colonial experiences among continental and Caribbean colonies, emphasizing the complexity of intellectual historical context and the reasons why the Declaration remains a coherent statement in favor of American independence, self-government, and individual liberty.