Today is the 4th of July in the Gregorian Calendar. On this day in 1776, delegates from the different British colonies in North America signed in Philadelphia a declaration designed to provide legitimacy for their decision to terminate their allegiance to the king of England and his parliament. Their argument for such termination was not legal, but philosophical. Their premise was moral – a judgment on the rights of individuals derived from natural and divine dispositions.
I have a family connection to the acts of the American colonists in 1776.
Gathered in a congress, the delegates of the several British North American colonies In March 1776 resolved:
That it be recommended to the several Assemblies, Conventions, and Councils, or Committees of Safety of the United Colonies, immediately to cause all persons to be disarmed, within their respective Colonies, who are notoriously disaffected to the cause of America, or who have not associated, and refuse to associate, to defend by Arms, the United Colonies, against the hostile attempts of the British Fleets and Armies.
In April 1776, Winthrop Young, my direct ancestor on my father’s side, subscribed to this oath:
“We the Subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage, and promise, that we will, to the utmost of our Power, at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with Arms, oppose the hostile Proceedings of the British Fleets, and Armies, against the United American Colonies.”
Then, on July 4, 1776, Lewis Morris, a collateral ancestor on my mother’s side, signed the Declaration of Independence. His signature:
The moral legitimation used by those delegates also informs the Caux Round Table’s Principles for Government. The moral principle is that public power is held in trust as a responsibility to serve with honor, fidelity and due care.
The pivotal assertion of the declaration is:
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
In short, the king has abused his office, his trusteeship. As a result, he has lost his authority, his right to rule and manage those who are entitled to benefit from his use of power and prosper under his governance.
The American Declaration of Independence framed that argument as follows:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.
The Caux Round Table Principles for Government frame the principal duty of government as:
Public power is held in trust for the community.
Power brings responsibility. Power is a necessary moral circumstance in that it binds the actions of one to the welfare of others.
Therefore, the power given by public office is held in trust for the benefit of the community and its citizens. Officials are custodians only of the powers they hold. They have no personal entitlement to office or the prerogatives thereof.
Holders of public office are accountable for their conduct while in office. They are subject to removal for malfeasance, misfeasance or abuse of office. The burden of proof that no malfeasance, misfeasance or abuse of office has occurred lies with the officeholder.
The state is the servant and agent of higher ends. It is subordinate to society. Public power is to be exercised within a framework of moral responsibility for the welfare of others. Governments that abuse their trust shall lose their authority and may be removed from office.