The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas

In this book, author, Carl Lotus Becker, examines the political ideas behind the Declaration of Independence. In this thorough analysis of the most famous political document in the American history, Becker covers several important aspects of the Declaration: the theory of natural rights, the view the colonists had of their place in the British Empire, and the literary qualities of the document.

The Declaration of Independence

Historical Antecedents of the Declaration: The Natural Rights Philosophy

Historical Antecedents of the Declaration: Theory of the British Empire

Drafting the Declaration

The Literary Qualities of the Declaration

The Philosophy of the Declaration in the Nineteenth Century



Carl Lotus Becker (1873 – 1945) was an American historian. He is best known for The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers, four lectures on The Enlightenment delivered at Yale University.