U.S. Department of State Fiscal Year 2020 Agency Financial Report

The Founders’ Recognition of Unalienable Rights T he American experiment in free and democratic self- government stems from several sources. The 17th Century British subjects who settled, and built thriving communities along, the eastern seaboard of what they regarded as a new world brought with them a variety of traditions. These traditions both reinforced one another and pulled in different directions. Eventually, their intertwining gave rise to a distinctive and dynamic national spirit. The colonists’ momentous decision in July 1776 to break away from England in order to govern themselves marked the first time in human history that an independent nation came into existence by affirming a universal moral principle that stood above, and served as a standard for, all government. That principle – that all human beings are by nature free and equal – has roots in beliefs about human nature, reason, and God and has profound ramifications for politics. The main purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to announce the dissolution of the political bonds that tied the Americans to Great Britain and to proclaim that the 13 colonies “are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.” The Declaration justified these drastic steps by means of a long list of allegations of tyrannical rule directed against King George III. Americans sought for themselves what they viewed as the prerogative of all peoples: “to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” Owing in part to this conviction of the equality of peoples and their common interest in freedom, the Declaration views American independence also as a matter of foreign affairs, observing that “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that” the American people “should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Thomas Jefferson was the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the first Secretary of State and third President of the United States. 2020 A gency F inanci al R eport U ni ted S tates D epartment of S tate | 21