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ComparisonPaper
Mariah Lupo
LibertyUniversity
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ComparisonPaper
The United States Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and Thomas
Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, are all important documents in our nation’s history.
These historical documents were crucial to the foundation of our country. The three of these
documents helped shapeAmerica as we know it today.In this paper, I will compare each of these
documents and explain the difference between what the signers of the Declaration of
IndependenceandtheU.S.Constitutionthoughtabouttheseparationofchurchandstateorabout the
separation of God from government.
FoundingDocuments
In this section I will provide a brief overview of the Declaration of Independence,
Constitution,andJefferson’sLetterstotheDanburyBaptists.Theseimportantdocumentslaythe
foundation on what our government is built from.
DeclarationofIndependence
The Declaration of Independence was the firstof these documents to bewritten.Itwas
drafted in June of 1776 by Thomas Jefferson, who strived to make it clear for the colonies the
choice of separating from the rule of England.The purpose of the document was to not only
declare independence from England but also to ignite the desire of the colonies to be free and
governthemselves.Thisdeclarationemboldenedthecolonists,andgavethematangiblereason to fight.
Constitution
TheConstitution,writtenin1787,isthefoundationofAmerica’ssystemofgovernment.
Itdefinedtheindividualsystemsofgovernment,settingrulestolimitthepowerofgovernment,
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anddevelopedabeneficialsystemthatwouldfunctionforthepeople,bythepeople.Wehavethe
Constitutiontokeepchecksandbalancesinplace.Itwasnotallencompassingintermsofdetails but left
asa basisthat futuregenerationscould amend tosituationsthat mayarise intheirpresent times.It also
states the rights of every U.S. citizen and spells out the civil liberties: freedom of religion,
freedom of speech, freedom to media access, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition.
Freedom of religion is especially important because beforeAmerica broke free of the British, all
were under the ruling of the catholic church.
Jefferson’sLettertotheDanburyBaptists
Jefferson’sLettertotheDanburyBaptistswaswrittenbyThomasJeffersoninresponseto him, as
the President, by the Danbury BaptistAssociation voicing their concern for religious rights and
freedoms after a breach of trust by their own state government.In the letter Jefferson makes clear
that the idea behind the amendment to the Constitution was not to exclude religion
fromtherealmofgovernment,buttoprotectthecitizensfrombeingforcedtoadheretooneform of state
religion in exclusion of all others (The Heritage Foundation, n.d.).I believe the anti- religion
movement of today has misconstrued what Jefferson said.In their interpretation they think he
meant that there should be no type of religion in any form, in any aspect of the
government.Which brings us to where we are today that people shudder at the mention of any
religion or religious act.
CommonThemesoftheDocuments
Soitshouldbeclearthatthesetwofoundationaldocumentsaredifferent.TheDeclaration
ofIndependenceissimplyadeclarationofthegrievancesandoppressionsthatthecolonistswere tired of
experiencing from their government (England), ruling an ocean away.The Constitution is
basically a rule book that created the kind of government that we believed to be an
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improvementonEngland’sgovernment.Puttingthepowerinthehandsofthepeople.Though they are
different, I believe that one of these documents could not exist without the other.
Soitshouldbeclearthatthesetwofoundationaldocumentsaredifferent.TheDeclaration
ofIndependenceissimplyadeclarationofthegrievancesandoppressionsthatthecolonistswere tired of
experiencing from their government (England), ruling an ocean away.The Constitution is
basically a rule book that created the kind of government that we believed to be an improvement
on England’s government.Putting the power in the hands of the people. Though they are
different, I believe that one of these documents could not exist without the other.
