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What is the difference between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of Independence?
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a global document outlining rights for all people, while the Declaration of Independence was created to justify American independence from Britain. The former is criticized for being theoretical, lacking concrete application methods or political conditions for enforcing rights. In contrast, the Declaration of Independence focuses on a specific inalienable right to self-governance, using natural rights to challenge British rule.
The United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights is designed to apply to all people, in all countries, in all circumstances. The Declaration of Independence, on the other hand, using the same kind of universalist language as the UN Declaration, was drawn up for a specific purpose, namely to articulate the desire of the American colonists to break free from British rule.
In that sense, one could say that the UN Declaration is more theoretical in its makeup, as it doesn't take into account how its articles are to be applied in concrete circumstances. According to its critics, it simply articulates a noble wishlist without specifying how it is to be achieved. Furthermore, it does not discuss the political conditions that need to exist if human rights are to be adequately enforced.
It's all very well proclaiming human rights, critics argue, but if the political structures aren't in place to...
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deliver them, then any human rights document, no matter how well-intentioned, is effectively worthless.
The Declaration of Independence, on the other hand, uses natural rights as a claim against a specific government accused of violating Americans's liberties. Whereas the UN Declaration on Human Rights articulates a number of positive rights, the Declaration of Independence is based on a single inalienable right: the right of Americans to break free from the mother country and go their own way.