democratic writing

(small d democratic)

I am currently reading a fascinating book by Danielle Allen, a Harvard professor of government called, Our Declaration, in which she uses the 282 pages of her book to analyze the 1337 words of the Declaration of Independence. I have not finished reading her book and am not ready to comment on it but I do have an inkling of where she is going from her subtitle, A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality.

But in preparation of her analysis of the document, she elaborates the process by which the document was created, a process she call sdemocratic writing. (small d democratic) Most of us assume that the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson. But while Jefferson was the lead author of the document, he was not the sole author of the document. In 1774, prior to the First Continental Congress, Jefferson had written some ideas to help guide the delegates to the Congress, although he was too ill to attend himself. Many delegates thought Jefferson’s guidelines were too radical but others supported him and the guidelines were later circulated among the colonies as A Summary View of the Rights of British America. The popularity of this document made Jefferson famous throughout the colonies and established him as a strong pro-independence delegate.

When Jefferson attended the Second Continental Congress in 1775 he was asked to help draft with John Dickinson a Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms which was sent to London along with  the Olive Branch Petition seeking reconciliation in July of 1775 (after the battles of Lexington and Concord). In the fall of 1775 the delegates to the Congress learned that the king had not only rejected a reconciliation but had declared the colonies to be in “open and avowed” rebellion. Leading delegates to the Congress such as Richard Henry Lee (cousin of Light-Horse Harry Lee father of Robert E. Lee) were determined to proceed toward independence and on June 7, Lee made a motion for Congress to declare independence.

All of these actions were prelude to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Congress nominated a committee of five delegates to draft the declaration. The committee was headed by Jefferson but also included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin as well as Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. Jefferson wrote the first draft of the declaration. This draft was edited by Adams and Franklin, including some edits also by Jefferson, and was submitted to the full committee. On June 28^th after additional edits, the committee of five’s final draft was submitted to Congress. Dr. Allen’s book includes reprints of the substantial edits the Congress made to the committee’s draft, reducing it by about 25% and eliminating the denunciation of the “execrable commerce” in men that was chattel slavery.

But, while interesting, what is the significance of this lengthy and convoluted process of our declaring independence? The lengthy process of editing and re-editing the proposed declaration was necessary to develop a consensus among the delegates to the Congress. The southern slave-holding colonies would have never approved a declaration that denounced slavery that Jefferson, himself a slave-holder, had originally included. This change was necessary for the colonies to unanimously approve the Declaration of Independence on July 4^th. Democracy is a process that includes many concessions and compromises. Nobody gets everything they want in a democracy because not everybody wants the same thing. This is how democracy works. It is messy. It is slow. Nobody is particularly satisfied by how democracy actually works.

But no one is more dissatisfied by how democracy actually works than President Trump and his MAGA supporters on the right along with Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, AOC and the squad on the left. Neither side is willing to compromise. Neither side is willing to make concessions. So we remain gridlocked.

President Trump happily issues policy announcements on Truth Social at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. He hasn’t asked anyone else to review what he is typing (probably because no one else is awake). No one edits what he publishes. Congress does not review or request any changes in his decrees. It is all very efficient. But it is not democracy. The left wishes they could do the same. But it still wouldn’t be democracy no matter what their campaign ads say. Trump is not the only danger to democracy.

You may recall that, in the past, I have written a number of commentaries where I criticize too much democracy. But I am also critical of too little democracy. Democracy is the only government suitable for a free people. The progressive left wants too much democracy. The MAGA right too little. But it is hard to find the right balance and neither side is willing to make the sacrifices and compromises necessary for a functioning democracy.

The Founders were practicing American democracy even as they were in the process of inventing it while, 250 years later, it seems we have forgotten everything they tried to tell us about our democracy.