Tyrants and Rogues : Understanding the Declaration of Independence

An acclaimed historian presents a sweeping new look at the Declaration of Independence, focusing not on the lofty principles of the preamble but on the list of grievances levelled against King George III

For the 250 years since it was written and proclaimed to the world, the Declaration of Independence, and the words of its preamble—“all men are created equal”, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”—have animated those striving for freedom around the world. Yet as Robert G. Parkinson shows, the men who wrote the Declaration did not view the preamble as the important part; rather, it was the list of grievances that they spent their time labouring over. Here they identified the tyrants and rogues who oppressed the colonists, and eventually waged war on them, inflamed slave revolts, forced them to fight against their countrymen and more. Parkinson gives us the Declaration anew—and in the process opens up an expansive view of the contingency of the Revolutionary moment, showing that the patriots were not so much philosophers as they were politicians and war-makers.