Declaration of Mental Independence (1826)
Editor’s Note: Robert Owen, a British utopian socialist, entrepreneur and industrialist who created humane working conditions and paid fair wages to his employees, moved in 1824 to the U.S., where he established a collective farm in New Harmony, Indiana (Owen is considered a father of the co-op movement). In this declaration, he issued a call […]
Negro Declaration of Independence, 1876
Editor’s Note: Crafted and issued on February 28, 1876 by the National Independent Political Union, headed by Garland H. White, a Baptist Minister and political activist from Weldon, North Carolina, this declaration was printed as a four-age leaflet in the immediate post-Civil War aftermath at a time when Black Americans were already becoming increasingly embittered […]
Declaration of Rights — Equal Rights Party (a.k.a. Loco-Foco), 1836
Editor’s Note: This Jefferson-inspired declaration was composed in 1836 in Utica, New York, where a convention of mechanics, farmers, and working men was held and led to the creation of the Equal Rights Party (also known as Loco-Foco), a segment of the Democratic party. Declaration of Rights, by Equal Rights Advocates and Anti-Monopolists of New York We hold […]
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” – Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852
Editor’s Note: Black Americans did not celebrate the 4th of July until the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. In this no-holds-barred essay, Frederick Douglass, who became one of our great intellectuals, social reformers, and abolitionist leaders after escaping slavery, spells out why Independence Day was a mockery to […]
Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945)
Editor’s Note: Ho Chi Minh’s September 2, 1945 declaration, proclaimed an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The opening passage by Paris-educated Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party, was a verbatim recitation of our July 4, 1776. The declaration was written in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in World War II and France’s attempt to reclaim […]
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (1996)
Editor’s Note: This declaration was crafted by John Perry Barlow, a founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international nonprofit that focuses on fair use of digital rights. It was issued as a paper, and was widely released online on February 8, 1996. In many respects the declaration is a response to (and against) the U.S. Telecommunications […]
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (1960)
Editor’s Note: Adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 14, 1960, this declaration was largely considered a watershed in the movement towards the end of colonialism. Eighty nine member states voted to approve the declaration; none opposed it, though there were nine abstentions, including the U.S. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries […]
Spacekind Declaration of Independence (1986)
Editor’s Note: This declaration of independence and principles for ‘spacekind’ was crafted in 1986 by George S. Robinson — described in Space Enterprise, a book to which he contributed, as “an Attorney at Law, currently in commercial/space law practice and “a member of several professional and governmental advisory committees promoting space commerce”, and “a prolific writer […]
The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions — 1848, Seneca Falls Conference, Women’s Rights
Editor’s Note: With the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 as its model, the driving forces behind this declaration – which demands the recognition of women as rights-bearing citizens — was Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, anti-slavery and women’s rights activists. The declaration was issued at a convention for women’s rights held in Seneca Falls, […]
Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)
Editor’s Note: Approved by all 78 member states of the United Nations, this declaration is a first in the formal global agreement on children’s rights and the principles on which they are based. This declaration is a follow-on to the unprecedented 1924 declaration by the League of Nations (see image) endowing children the world over with […]
