Why is the Declaration of Independence important today?

The Declaration of Independence is still important today because it signifies the birth of a nation, instructs free citizens and provides hope for all people who want to be free.

The Declaration is the birth certificate of America.  It is the document formally declaring the intent of the colonies to govern themselves apart from the English crown.  The Fourth of July is celebrated just as we celebrate a person's birthday.  It stands as the symbol of the beginning of a powerful statement; the power of the government comes from those governed.

It also serves as instructions to American citizens.  The Declaration commands the people to "alter or to abolish" any government when it becomes destructive and fails the people.  It is important because it reminds us it is the responsibility of the citizen to take part in the government.  It also reminds us the reasons the United States separated from England.  The listing provides valid reasons then, and they have not grown any less valid over time.

Finally, the Declaration serves as a beacon of hope to anyone enslaved.  Many countries in Latin and South America base their Constitutions on the United States.  These countries followed the pursuit of freedom outlined in the Declaration of Independence.  Although it specifically outlines the grievances with the King of Great Britain, it also speaks of "governments" in the generic form, sparking the imagination that no government is beyond reproach.

The Declaration of Independence is important because it assures Americans of our past, reminds us to be participants in our present and provides a beacon of hope to the world for the future.  It is our history, our lineage and our legacy to uphold.  

Why is the Declaration of Independence significant in human history?

The iconic status of the Declaration is due to several factors involving the inherent qualities of the document, the historical context in which it appeared, and the subsequent history of the world.

It's ironic that most of the document deals with specific charges made against the British king rather than the universal precepts it enunciates. In my view the essential passages are the first two paragraphs, and the last paragraph. The Declaration states simply and directly the liberal worldview that people are equal and free, and that no government has the right to control others by interfering with their freedom or with their attempts to act as they choose and to flourish. This brief paraphrase lacks the eloquence of Jefferson's prose, and this leads us to the second factor about the document's greatness: it's well written, in a supercharged, poetic style.

Just as with Shakespeare, the way ideas are expressed, the words chosen, are as important as the ideas themselves. The principles espoused by Jefferson and Congress were not new. The liberal ideas of government were expressed by the Enlightenment philosophers from John Locke forward. But the Declaration is an encapsulation of Enlightenment thinking, a microcosm of the new way in which mankind had begun to view itself. The crucial juncture of that moment in time, in which progressivism began to be put into practice, endowed the Declaration with the semi-mythic status it still holds today.

Had the history of the world gone differently at this point, posterity's way of viewing these words could have been quite different. Thirteen years to the month after the document was completed and approved, the French Revolution began. The fact that France had facilitated American independence, the fact that Jefferson was present in Paris in 1789 and had a close friendship with French revolutionary Lafayette, and the fact of the Declaration as the model of a written statement that would serve as a democracy's founding document, all worked together to transform it from a merely local and specific list of grievances (overlaid with a philosophical message) into a universal creed for humanity. Most people would agree mankind is in a better place collectively now, despite its still massive flaws, than it was 230 years ago. Eventually slavery was eliminated in America, serfdom eliminated in Europe, and the old ancien régime of the European political system would be superseded by democracy or quasi-democracy, despite the periodic setbacks that occurred once and again, like dips in an overall ascending line on a graph.

Admittedly this is a narrow way of conceptualizing history, but it's at least partly true that the improvement that has occurred in the world, despite the enormous flaws and the catastrophes that have continued into our own time, is a real-life projection of the ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration provided the new country "brought forth on this continent" with a kind of thesis regarding what America, and by extension the world, would base itself on, regardless of how imperfectly its ideals have been achieved in practice.

The United States Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It is one of the most important documents that humankind has ever produced due to its short term and long term effects on history, society, and governance.

First of all, the Declaration was of great importance in the era of the American Revolutionary War. Finalized after the initiation of war between the colonies and Great Britain, it served as a formal announcement to the world that the colonies no longer considered themselves part of the kingdom of Great Britain and no longer under British rule. It included a list of grievances against King George III and his government that in the minds of the colonists justified their rebellion. Additionally. it functioned as a rallying cry to the colonists, pleading them join the rebellion. The authors also used it as a worldwide call for allies against the British. It helped to legitimize the struggle of Americans for freedom and ultimately assisted them in the creation of the fledgling nation of the United States of America, which now, of course, is a world power.

The Declaration of Independence is also important because its reasoning for the right of independence rests on an ethical foundation. This is evidenced in its preamble:

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.

This is a justification of freedom and democracy and an assertion that people have the right to a government of their choice which has served as an inspiration not only for the American struggle for independence, but also for rebellions in other parts of the world. For instance, important figures in the French Revolution were inspired by this document, as were key leaders in the fight for freedom of South American countries against Spain.

Finally, the U.S. Declaration of Independence sets ideal standards of freedom and democracy that have not yet been reached, not even in the United States. When the document was written, the equality it uplifted did not apply to all colonists. For example, women were not considered equal to men, and some of the members of the Continental Congress were slaveholders, including the main writer Thomas Jefferson. At that time, the phrase "all men are created equal" meant all male white men. Even now, the Equal Rights Amendment, which guarantees equal rights for women, has not yet been added to the U.S. Constitution. So the Declaration of Independence offers guidance towards an ideal that has not yet been attained.

Why is the Declaration of Independence important?

The Declaration of Independence is an important example of a seminal document that helped to establish self-rule for America, and it is a model of effective rhetoric.

Jefferson utilizes both inductive and deductive reasoning in making his case for why the colonies are declaring their independence from England. 

Jefferson's deductive reasoning can be expressed as a syllogism:

Major premise: When governments become despotic, citizens have the right to abolish them.

Minor premise: England's rule over the colonies has become despotic.

Conclusion: The colonies have the right to abolish England's colonial government.

Later in the document, Jefferson uses inductive reasoning in reciting a litany of King George III's abuses of the colonies.  There are twenty-seven "abuses and usurpations" listed that enumerate specific reasons why the colonies must revolt. 

Other rhetorical techniques that Jefferson employs include appeals to ethos when he recalls the various negotiating techniques with which the colonies approached England. Jefferson also employs logos in the deductive reasoning expressed above in the syllogism. And finally, Jefferson appeals to pathos when he indicts King George III for "the works of death, desolation and tyranny" that are "totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."

I think that you will find different answers to this question.  One particular reason as to why Jefferson's document is so important is because it represents the essence of why nations need to be free and possess self- determination.  To a great extent, Jefferson's document has become the template for so many nations that wish to chart a new course.  The idea of being able to articulate why the past condition needs a change and how the future will be better than it represents the very essence of all political articulation.  Jefferson's writing is so important because it asks the reader, the colonist of the time period or the modern reader, to see what is and demand what can be.  In this, the document captures both moral and political imagination and expands it.  In this, it is extremely important.  From an American Historical narrative point of view, the idea of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" have become absorbed as part of this nation's mantra and fundamental creed.  For groups in America that have sought to articulate their own place in American Society, quoting Jefferson's document has been a form of imminent criticism, whereby being able to appropriate the American narrative as their own has resulted in a source of power being discovered.  It is for these reasons that I would see the document as important.

One thing is certain: The Declaration of Independence, while recognized as important in its own time, has grown in significance and renown as time has passed. On one level, its significance is obvious, for the Declaration reframed the purpose of the Revolutionary War to include independence from Great Britain. This of course led to the creation of the United States as a sovereign nation, and was thus a crucially important step. 

More important in the long run, however, have been the ideals expressed in the Declaration, which have become a sort of statement of faith for Americans. The statement that "all men are created equal," easily the most quoted passage from the Declaration, has been a sort of touchstone in American political rhetoric. Abraham Lincoln drew on this phrase in the Gettysburg Address, as did Martin Luther King in the famous "I Have a Dream" speech. King in particular used the line as an aspiration, something Americans could one day hope to achieve. At the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton used the document to illustrate the ways in which women were oppressed despite having the same unalienable rights as men.

In short, the document has come to be viewed as a statement of American principles, and despite the historic failure to live up to these values (even the author himself, Thomas Jefferson, was a slaveholder) it has inspired revolutionaries around the world. French and Haitian revolutionaries, and even Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh explictly referenced the document in making claims to liberty. So the the Declaration has become a crucial text for those asserting human rights and liberties, and this is its enduring importance.

Not only does it state point-blank that we are no longer under the rule of the motherland, Britain, but it also lays the groundwork and foundation for our future government and how we, the People, agree to be lead by our elected officials.  The Americans involved in drafting and signing the Declaration of Independence were stretching their democratic wings and putting their necks out on the line (literally, for King George could have had them beheaded for treason) for the entire country and future generations.  They listed all the problems they had with the current government and all the complaints they had against the King.  Then they SIGNED it!!  It was a courageous act in the midst of a turbulant and unpredictable time.

The document is considered to be one of the best-written declarations.  Check out the link below for more information.

It is the document we go to when we study the history of our country, but also when we research the law.  Cases are tried fairly using the laws that came before, and they also sometimes are the reason new laws are added to the morphing, living document that our forefathers so painstakingly and carefully considered before putting it permanently on paper.

The Declaration of Independence was not only notice served to the King of England that his colonies were no longer, it embodied principles of governance that had been philosophically debated during the course of the Enlightenment, notably by the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) and Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755). Indeed, Jefferson reworded much of Locke's concepts in writing the Declaration (see link below.) Principal among these was the idea that government derives it authority by the consent of the governed, and that if the governed saw fit to alter or abolish government, they not only had a "Natural Right" to do so, they had a moral obligation to act. In short, if you didn't like your government, you could change it!! This was a revolutionary concept in a day when most countries in the world operated under some form of the "Divine Right of Kings."  

Why is the Declaration of Independence still relevant today?

The Declaration of Independence is still applicable today in that it states who should be in charge of the American government—the American people. It says the government derives its power "from the consent of the governed." It also states the government is necessary to provide for the people's "inalienable rights," which according to Jefferson are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The rhetoric in the Declaration of Independence has been used by American politicians as well as leaders in other countries who wish to create their own forms of self-government.  

The Declaration of Independence is also important in that it gives a list of wrongs committed by Britain against the American colonies. Without this list, the American colonists are only tax-dodgers. This list shows the colonists have legitimate complaints.  

Finally, the Declaration of Independence gives the American people a right to revolution.  A passage states "the people have the right to alter or to abolish that government, and to establish a new government," which means that if the government infringes on life, liberty, and/ or the pursuit of happiness, people have an inalienable right to change the government or establish a new one. The next passage begins with the word "prudence," however, meaning the people should take this responsibility seriously and not flippantly alter the government on a whim.