July 4, 2026 is the 250th birthday of the United States. Those of us who were around 50 years ago for the bicentennial remember that a very big deal was made of the United States of America’s 200th birthday. We were able to put aside our differences and celebrate what unified us.
The 250th doesn’t seem to be treated as anywhere near such a big deal by the public. Different times; and indeed a very different America. Too bad, because we think it is an opportunity lost. We still think about the meaning of independence (and even teach it in our law classes, even though when we ask students if they’ve already covered the Declaration of Independence in their other law school courses, they say no).
So we’re posting our usual July 4 missive. It seems to have a special meaning today, and the Declaration is a reminder that even flawed and imperfect men may be capable of great things.
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We know lawyers are easy targets (we enjoy lawyer jokes as much as the next person, i.e., What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer? A good lawyer knows the law; a great lawyer knows the judge.).
Nonetheless, as we celebrate our independence, we note that author Thomas Jefferson and 23 other of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were lawyers, and that the document was crafted and understood fundamentally as a legal pleading, and is the product of careful legal thinking.
So lawyers can’t be all that bad, right?
You should see the “track changes” version.
As convincingly argued by historian Peter Charles Hoffer in his book The Law’s Conscience: Equitable Constitutionalism in America (1990), the structure and style of the Declaration follows a form familiar to most modern lawyers: a complaint initiating a lawsuit.
There’s the introduction and “whereas” section (why we’re doing this — the familiar “When in the Course of human events” bit). This is the Introduction that you often see in legal complaints; the summary of reasons:
But even though most of us stop there, the Declaration continues. It next lays out the bill of particulars, 28 specific factual charges against George III which accuses the Crown of violating our ancient rights. That’s right: these were not new, but rather old, rights.
Here are some of those ancient rights, including some things that would show up in the Constitution (any Third Amendment fans out there?), or that the public view of the reasons for the Revolution has focus on (that one may be taxed only with consent and representation):
This is followed by the Prayer for Relief, which in this case consists of the remedy of severing the colonies’ political bonds to Great Britain:
Lastly, the famous verification: John Hancock and others signing and “mutually pledg[ing] to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”
And here you thought Rule 11 was a tough standard?
As Professor Hoffer notes, Jefferson was an equity lawyer, and the Declaration advances a familiar equitable breach of trust theory, asserting that George III was a trustee for the colonies and therefore owed them fiduciary duties, and that his failure to protect them from the capriciousness of Parliament — where the colonists had no representation — was a breach of the trust for which equity provided the remedy of independence.
However, since equity derived its power from an appeal to the Crown’s fairness, it seemed inconsistent for the colonists to seek relief for a breach of the King’s fiduciary duties from the King himself.
So Jefferson and his drafting team employed the then-still radical legal theory that sovereign equitable power derived from the people, and that the Continental Congress, as representatives of the people, could impose the remedy of independence.
Jefferson’s laptop. No AI in evidence.
Thus, the Declaration is much more than stirring political prose, and may not have been possible without the work and deep thinking by a bunch of lawyers.
So while you’re enjoying the hot dogs, fireworks and sunshine — and yes, your freedom — this Fourth of July, please thank a lawyer.
We can happily return to lawyer jokes on July 5th.