Question

These United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States . . . they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown . . . as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
What is the meaning of this passage? Check all that apply.


a. The Colonies remain a servant to Great Britain.

b. The Colonies have all the power of any other independent nation.

c. The Colonies are not free or independent.

d. The Colonies would like to be allies with the British in the future.

e. The Colonies are declaring independence.

Answer 1

The correct responses:

b. The Colonies have all the power of any other independent nation.  

e. The Colonies are declaring independence.

Historical context/detail:

The quoted section comes from the Declaration of Independence (1776), which was written on behalf of the American colonies by Thomas Jeffersons.  In preparing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson and the American patriots were asserting their right to govern themselves and throw off the government of the British monarchy.   The American founding fathers got ideas like this from the Enlightenment philosopher John Locke. According to Locke's view, a government's power to govern comes from the consent of the people themselves -- those who are to be governed. Locke argued for the rights of the people to create their own governments according to their own desires and for the sake of protecting their own life, liberty, and property.  This also meant the right to change a government if the existing government did not protect those rights.

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson offered a list of "facts to be submitted to a candid world" to demonstrate that the British king had been seeking to establish "an absolute Tyranny over these States" (the colonial states which were declaring their independence). Revolution was justified, in the view taken by the colonists, if it could be shown that the British government was acting in tyrannical ways toward the colonies.