American History Hit

Host: Don Wildman
Guest: Michael Haddam, historian, author of Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History and the forthcoming The Declaration: A Concise History
Episode: How Revolutionary was the Declaration of Independence?
Date: January 8, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode investigates the revolutionary nature, composition, and legacy of the Declaration of Independence. Host Don Wildman and historian Michael Haddam trace the document’s genesis from the roots of colonial discontent after the French and Indian War to its enduring influence on global revolutions and rights movements. They explore the philosophical ideas, political crises, and realpolitik behind the writing and signifying of the Declaration, as well as the profound contradictions it embodied from its inception.

1. How Revolutionary Was the Declaration?

Introduction & Central Question

• Wildman introduces the episode by painting a vivid scene of July 8, 1776, as the Declaration is read aloud for the first time, signaling the colonies’ leap into self-defined citizenship.
• The episode is divided into three parts: (1) Events leading up to the Declaration, (2) the writing and philosophical roots of the document, and (3) the immediate and lasting impacts.
• Wildman’s core question: Was the Declaration truly revolutionary, and why?

Key Insight:

• “The Declaration of Independence was absolutely revolutionary. First of all, because it affected essentially the first modern republican revolution, right? So by very definition, it's a revolutionary document.” – Michael Haddam (03:55)

• Haddam highlights the Declaration as the catalyst for the “Age of Revolutions,” inspiring uprisings and nation-building far beyond America and for generations.

2. Colonial Grievances and Enlightenment Ideals

Events Leading up to 1776

• The aftermath of the Seven Years’ War: Britain’s massive war debt leads to new policies imposing direct taxes on the colonies (Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Tea Act).
• Colonists viewed such taxation as unprecedented, violating established traditions and shared status as Britons.
• Climaxed by incidents like the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party, these measures fueled political and identity crises among colonists.

Notable Discussion:

• “If Parliament is willing to do things to the colonists … in ways that they would not do for native Britons … that suggested to colonists that they were somehow second class citizens within the empire.” – Michael Haddam (10:07)

Philosophical Influences

• European Enlightenment thinkers—Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau—advocated social contracts and inalienable rights.
• John Locke’s influence: government exists to protect natural rights; if it fails, people have a right to replace it.

Role of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”

• Paine’s pamphlet (Jan 1776) criticized monarchy itself and brought Enlightenment arguments to ordinary colonists.
• Although not the first expression of revolutionary sentiment, it “adds more fuel to that fire” of a rising popular groundswell for independence. (15:53)

Memorable Moment:

• “He really, really puts it in stark relief … as very much just an expression of common sense that hereditary government, whether it's a monarch or an aristocracy, makes absolutely no sense in the context of this new enlightened age.” – Michael Haddam (14:07)

• Paine’s widespread biblical references resonated in a deeply religious, highly literate colonial society.

Revolutionaries vs. Majority:

• Roughly 40% of colonists supported independence—not a majority, but “quite significant” according to Haddam (19:35).

3. Writing and Structure of the Declaration

The Declaration’s Purpose

• Fighting was already underway when the Declaration was written; its purpose extended beyond declaring independence.
• The July 2 resolution (Richard Henry Lee) enacted independence; the Declaration (July 4) served as “a kind of PR document” to justify the break, rally support, and—critically—seek foreign alliances (France, Spain, the Dutch).

Quote:

• “It is sending out the news of independence. It's laying out the case … for why independence and revolution is justified.” – Michael Haddam (20:53)

Why Thomas Jefferson?

• Jefferson chosen for his reputation as a writer (A Summary View of the Rights of British America), his status as a Virginian (important for unity), and not being from Massachusetts, whose delegates were viewed as too radical.

Discussion on the Drafting:

• Committee of Five: Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, Livingston.
• Edits made by Adams and Franklin; Congress debated and altered certain sections.

The Structure:

• Preamble (“We hold these truths…”) – distills Enlightenment values and social contract into an accessible statement.
• 27 Grievances – list of injustices, recapitulating Parliamentary and ministerial actions, intentionally kept generic (not naming specific acts), later criticized in England for their vagueness.

Quote:

• ”If you think of this as…a sort of legal case. And most of these delegates are lawyers…The preamble is the lofty opening statement…then the grievances is the laying out of the evidence.” – Haddam (29:50)

Drafting Details:

• Franklin changed “sacred and undeniable” to “self-evident” to emphasize reason.
• Limited religious references: “laws of nature and of nature’s God”; rights “endowed by their Creator”—deliberately non-denominational.

4. Contradictions and American Paradox

Ideal vs. Reality

• Jefferson and many signers were slaveholders; women and Native Americans were excluded.
• Wildman asks Haddam how to reconcile these contradictions.

Quote:

• “It's…an expression of what the historian Edmund Morgan called the American paradox, right? The coexistence of slavery and this ideal of liberty…has been rooted in the United States…almost from the beginning.” – Haddam (33:46)

Unintended Consequences & Later Use

• “Did Jefferson or the other Founders ever imagine that later on these marginalized groups would…use the Declaration…to declare their own…claims for rights? And the simple answer is no…But one of the things that makes revolutions messy and…interesting is that they always have unintended consequences.” – Haddam (36:15)

• The preamble’s universality enabled it to become a rallying point for abolitionists, women’s rights activists, labor movements, and global decolonization.

5. Immediate Risks, British Response, and Revolutionary Symbolism

Risks to the Founders

• Had Britain won, signers faced treason charges and likely execution (“death by hanging”), plus loss of property.
• Ben Franklin’s famous (perhaps apocryphal) quote: “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” (39:00)
• Congress’s unity was hard-won, the signature process less dramatic and more drawn-out than depicted in paintings.

British Reaction

• In Britain, the Declaration viewed as insolent, a personal affront to Britons.
• John Lind, barrister: “The blow given by the Congress appears to be leveled at His Majesty, but the wound was intended for us.” (40:30)

Spreading the News

• The document reached Americans through broadsides and newspapers—first printed in German in Pennsylvania, then in the Pennsylvania Evening Post (July 6, 1776).
• News took weeks to reach the far South and North.
• Celebratory public readings led to symbolic acts, like the destruction of King George III statues (notably at Bowling Green, Manhattan).

6. International Influence and Ongoing Legacy

Foreign Alliances & Revolution Abroad

• The Declaration also functioned as an overture to foreign powers—especially France and Spain. Their support was not immediate, only solidifying after American successes like Saratoga.

Global Inspiration

• The Declaration’s form and spirit inspired:
  • French Revolution (1789)
  • Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) – “Equality of men” as rallying cry
  • Latin American independence leaders (e.g. Simón Bolívar)
  • Vietnamese Declaration of Independence (1945) – Ho Chi Minh quoted Jefferson.

Quote:

• “The Declaration becomes a sort of how-to book for how you declare independence in a way that is…persuasive to the international community…in its form and structure and in its language…is universal.” – Haddam (52:18)

American Social Movements

• Throughout the 19th century, abolitionists, women’s rights activists (e.g., 1848 Seneca Falls “Declaration of Sentiments”), and labor movements modeled their own manifestos on the Declaration.

7. The Declaration as Aspiration

• The Declaration’s ideals—liberty, equality—are “aspirational,” not reflective of reality at signing, but meant as goals for the nation to strive toward.

Notable Reflection:

• “All individuals, we all have ideals for ourselves that we don't always live up to, but we aspire to live up to them. Right. And in some ways, I think that really gets at the crux of the document.” – Michael Haddam (54:06), citing Annette Gordon-Reed

• Frederick Douglass, Lincoln, and many others built upon this: the “unfinished revolution,” urging every generation to work toward “more fully realizing these founding ideals of liberty and equality.” (55:06)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening story, theme of episode – 00:20–03:32
• Was the Declaration revolutionary? – 03:33–05:04
• Colonial grievances, British response – 05:04–12:19
• Enlightenment thinkers & Thomas Paine – 12:19–18:25
• Building revolutionary consensus – 18:25–20:11
• Purpose and timing of the Declaration – 20:53–23:36
• Why Jefferson, composition process – 23:36–26:44
• Structure of the Declaration and grievances – 26:44–29:50
• The famous preamble – 29:50–32:13
• Contradictions: Slavery, gender, Native exclusion – 33:23–36:15
• Consequences for signers – 37:22–39:20
• Delayed spread of the text, public readings – 43:35–47:02
• Foreign alliances and wider revolutionary influence – 47:29–53:46
• Ongoing legacy and aspirational ideals – 53:46–55:47

Memorable Quotes

• “The Declaration of Independence was absolutely revolutionary.” – Michael Haddam (03:55)
• “If Parliament is willing to do things to the colonists…that they would not do for native Britons…that suggested to colonists that they were second class citizens…” – Michael Haddam (10:07)
• “One of the things that makes revolutions messy and…interesting is that they always have unintended consequences.” – Michael Haddam (36:15)
• “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” – Attributed to Ben Franklin (39:00)
• “The structure of the document is that…all of it, besides the grievances, essentially is universal…applicable to everybody.” – Michael Haddam (53:39)
• “All individuals…we all have ideals for ourselves that we don't always live up to, but we aspire to live up to them…In some ways, I think that really gets at the crux of the document.” – Michael Haddam (54:06, referencing Annette Gordon-Reed)

Conclusion

Don Wildman and Michael Haddam’s conversation demonstrates why the Declaration of Independence remains a living and evolving touchstone for both Americans and the world: a powerful, imperfect statement—simultaneously radical and limited, both a product and a catalyst of profound historical change. Its greatest legacy lies in its embrace of bold ideals that Americans, and millions beyond, continue striving to realize.