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The primary purpose of the Declaration was not to declare independence, but to proclaim to the world the reasons for declaring independence. It was intended as a formal justification of an act already accomplished.

— Carl L. Becker The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas (1922)

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More quotes by Carl L. Becker

To ask whether the natural rights philosophy of the Declaration of Independence is true or false is essentially a meaningless question.

The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas (1922)

The Declaration was essentially an attempt to prove that rebellion was not the proper word for what they were doing.

The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas (1922)

We look about in vain for any semblance of the old authority, the old absolute, for any suitable foothold from which to get a running start.

The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-century Philosophers (1932)

To John Adams he [Samuel] said on one occasion, "he never looked forward in life; never planned, laid a scheme, or formed a design for laying up anything for himself or others after him. This was the truth, inexplicable as it must have seemed to his more provident cousin.

The Eve of the Revolution (1918)

[O]ur feelings of superiority are built on the quicksand of ignorance.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Carl L. Becker (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.