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Article: The Declaration of Independence: A Global History
- Article from:
- The Journal of American Culture
- Article date:
- September 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Sep 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The Declaration of Independence: A Global History David Armitage. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
In David Armitage's incisively written new book, the author asserts that the original purpose of the Declaration of Independence has been lost. Or more precisely, our understanding of the document too often rests upon the soul-stirring words that open the Declaration's second paragraph ("We hold these Truths to be self-evident . . ."). Yet, while such sentiments have become the symbolic centerpiece of an American rights language that has structured two hundred years of American history, Armitage points out that the Declaration of Independence was not meant as a declaration of ...