A Colonial Roadmap to Overthrowing a Tyrant

The Syllogism of Independence

Many of you probably have seen Nicholas Cage in the movie National Treasure, where he discovers there is a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence that leads to the treasure of the Freemasons. A fantasy, yes. There is no map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. But Cage’s character, Benjamin Franklin Gates, is a determined, perhaps fanatical, historian who uses historical clues to solve his quest and to find treasure.

What isn’t a fantasy about the Declaration of Independence is that there is a treasure map, a clue (as Gates would have said), but it’s on the front of document, hidden in plain sight and somewhat buried in eighteenth-century prose: the syllogism of independence that laid the foundation for the rights of the colonists to overthrow a tyrannical government. It fostered the American revolution. If you’re looking for a roadmap to help us to get out of this constitutional crisis, read on.

Before we get too deep into the roadmap, we have to acknowledge that, at the time it was written, white males were the main audience of this argument. Since 1776, and through a tortured history, black and female voters have been included in the political audience. Some things in American politics have changed for the better since 1776. Some have not.

What I want to get at in this post is that the underlying foundation of the revolutionary syllogism still stands and that many of Jefferson’s descriptions of tyrannical behavior in 1776 apply to current politics thereby giving us that map.

In countless composition classes I taught over the years, I used the Declaration of Independence to teach the concept of the syllogism: a three-part structure of argument that leads the audience or reader through a major and minor premise to reach a logical conclusion.

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration of Independence, used the syllogism as the logical argument for the right of the colonies to break from the rule of Great Britian and to form their new government.

Syllogism tests the logic of a premise. Aristotle laid down the structure in his treatise Prior Analytics. In this work, he defined syllogistic logic as the major premise, the minor premise, and the conclusion. The conclusion rests on the audience’s acceptance of the truthfulness of the major premise and the minor premise. The major and minor premises therefore must be phrased carefully to allow no room for disagreement with the conclusion.

A well-known example from Aristotle is as follows:

Major premise: All men are mortal. Yes, we agree with that.

Minor premise: Socrates is a man. Yes, we agree with that.

Conclusion: Socrates is mortal. Yes, that conclusion is logical.

In 1776, Jefferson, a classicist in his education, was tasked with writing a declaration that made an argument not only to the colonies but the world that that the American colonies had the right break away from Great Britain and to establish their own government. There had never been a successful revolution of this sort. Jefferson knew that to achieve independence the argument had to hold up to logic, and not just emotion.

The syllogism he lays forth in the Declaration is:

Law-abiding citizens have the right to govern themselves and abolish governments ruled by a tyrant.

King George III is a tyrant.

King George III must be overthrown.

Jefferson opens with a major premise revolutionary for its time. He does take a risk here. He makes the bold statement that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” There was some limited self-governing going on in Great Britain, but the colonists wanted to break completely free from monarchical rule and govern themselves, for the people, by the people.

He therefore builds that argument on certain “unalienable Rights,” including the right to determine their government. Here’s that famous passage.

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 effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

Jefferson takes the argument further to link the tyrant with despotic behavior, and that the people have a right and duty to throw off, to alter the tyrannical rule:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

With the major premise established, that the people possess unalienable rights to throw out a tyrant, Jefferson presents the minor premise: that the King of Great Britain is the tyrant who has been cruelly afflicting the colonists:

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.

Those “Facts” include over 27 allegations of, “a history of repeated injuries and usurpations”, a few of which you may remember from your high school history classes. You can read them all here: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

I haven’t listed all, but you can read them all at the link above.

· He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

· He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

· He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

· He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

· He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

· He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

· For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

· For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

· For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

· For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

The final one presents a troubling view of Native Americans, but I must include it because, as we know, a political leader can still incite others to commit crimes.

· He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

The conclusion of the argument?

· A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Jefferson closes, noting that the colonists had exhausted all remedies to resolve their injuries. Therefore, supported by the syllogism of revolution, they had the unalienable right to free themselves from the tyrannical government of the tyrant, King George III.

America rejected a tyrant in 1776. Many of Jefferson’s facts that support a description of a tyrant fit the current occupant of the White House. He has made himself quite clear about what he wants to do to the people of the United States, especially those who disagree with him. He and his government may argue that they are tearing down the federal government because they it is not running “efficiently.”

Yes, we can all agree that efficiency should run the government. However, his methodology of cruel and unusual punishment is not efficiency; it is tyrannical.

The current administration’s methods have not been humane. They are destructive and have had devastating effects on the free people, including those who have voted for him (as they’re finding out when they lose their federal job or must pay more for prescription drugs again).

Here are some parallels to consider, with highlighted language is from the Declaration itself.

· Has he erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass [sic] our people, and eat out their substance by denying people their livelihoods and firing them without warning?

· Is he muting the Judicial branch of the government to make Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries?

· Has he released violent offenders from prison, making a mockery of their trials, allowing them to be out in society again to commit further violence in his name: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States?

· Has he inflicted harm on people who are protected under the 14^th Amendment by denying citizenship to persons born or naturalized in the United States, to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither?

· Has he threatened sovereign countries, including our neighbors to the north and south, Greenland and Panama by raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands?

· Has he been cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world through the imposition of tariffs and destruction of federal agencies that supply the rest of the world with American goods, such as USAID?

· Is he leading the country to a place where he will refuse his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good?

· Is he leading the country to a place where he forbids our Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them?

· Is he imposing Taxes on us without our Consent by allowing tax cuts for the wealthy and still taxing the rest of hard-working Americans?

Phew. That’s enough for me to conclude that this man is a tyrant.

As we move forward, keep in mind that this administration will continue to throw more usurpations at us. I fear that it will get worse before it gets better.

So how can we handle this? Let’s do what the colonists did. Let’s set out that road map.

What abuses and usurpations should be in our Declaration of Independence from the tyrant Donald J. Trump and his tyrannical government? Identify the ones important to you. They don’t have to be tied to the Declaration like I did above. However, they will give us, and importantly you, a roadmap so we can keep focused on what can be done everyday to fight this tyranny: protest, write letters, call your representatives, keep the discussion going.

Don’t get overwhelmed. While emotion can fuel you and we all have to vent, it can burn you out. Stay focused. Work with logic.

So here we go.

· Citizens possess unalienable rights to throw out a tyrant.

· Donald J. Trump is a tyrant because: MINOR PREMISES NEEDED! WHAT ARE YOURS? LIST IN THE REPLY BELOW.

· Conclusion: Donald J. Trump should be removed from power.

By clearly identifying his tyrannical behavior, we can move forward WITH ACTION in our fight against his tyrannical rule. Just like Jefferson and his fellow revolutionaries did.

And we know how that ended up for them: they won their independence.