Declaration of Independence vs Letter to the Danbury Baptists

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The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are the most treasured documents in the country. Their import stems from the overriding fact that they form the foundational basis of the nation. It has been argued that one offered a promise while the other fulfilled it (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, n.d.). The Declaration of Independence preceded the Constitution by eleven years. It was unveiled in 1776 with the main objective of officially severing all political ties between the American colonies and Britain. In essence, it proclaimed America free from the British colonists (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, n.d.). The Constitution was promulgated in 1787 to provide guidelines for the fulfillment of all that independence had promised. Both documents are joined at the hip because they sought to preserve and perpetuate Christian rationalism (Martin, 2006). The two documents were also guided by similar themes which include the enjoyment of freedom, governance, and the economy.
The Declaration of Independence was a pronouncement of freedom from the shackles that had hitherto bound the nation to Britain. Ideally, the pronouncement sought to transfer that freedom to its citizens. The document listed in detail the manifold rights that the king of England had deprived them as a people (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, n.d.). They declared that those deprivations had inevitably compelled them to seek self-governance that would guarantee citizens their unlimited enjoyment. They must also have read the Bible which expressly outlines the freedoms that people should enjoy in the book of psalms. It is also worthy to note that Biblical Christianity had been the dominant worldview in the North American colonies (Martin, 2006). Christianity must have informed them in coining those freedoms which were ultimately ensconced in the constitution such as the freedom to legislate laws. The constitution also includes the bill of rights which spells out the privileges that citizens should freely enjoy. Self-governance was another major pronouncement in the declaration. The authors and signers unanimously agreed that the nation needed to break free from the king. This was because he had abolished the most valuable laws. Also, he had unilaterally suspended the legislature and repeatedly dissolved the House of Representatives among other offenses. The Constitution sought to prevent such occurrences in the future. It paved way for two houses of repr...