The Declaration as a Battleground of Historical Memory
Edward L. Widmer’s The Living Declaration is framed as a “biography” of the Declaration of Independence. This genre has grown popular in recent years amid the commercialisation of the American founding. In mainstream liberal scholarship, these biographies often serve not as critical examinations of revolutionary ideas but as tools to reinforce the current ideological framework. Despite its engaging writing style and clear narrative, Widmer’s book fits well within this tradition.
The Declaration of Independence isn’t a neutral document; it serves as a revolutionary manifesto. Its core principles—equality, popular sovereignty, and the right to revolution—have significantly influenced major social conflicts throughout American history. Any in-depth analysis must address the radical implications of these ideas for today’s society. However, Widmer avoids this challenge, presenting a cleaned-up, heritage-focused version that downplays the Declaration’s revolutionary significance and reframes it as a civic symbol aligned with capitalist elites.
The Declaration as a Product of World-Historical Crisis
The Declaration of Independence was more than a philosophical concept created by Jefferson and his team. It signified a profound global crisis: the fall of the ancien régime, the rise of capitalist social relations, and the emergence of a revolutionary bourgeoisie. This new class’s struggle against feudal absolutism drastically changed the world.
A Marxist reconstruction starts not with Jefferson’s writing or Locke’s essays, but with the material changes in Atlantic capitalism during the eighteenth century. The Declaration served as the ideological manifestation of a society in flux, during a period when the emergent bourgeoisie aimed to dismantle feudal political structures while maintaining their economic base in private property. Its roots are deeply intertwined with the inherent contradictions within bourgeois society.
By the mid-1700s, the North American colonies had become deeply connected to Atlantic capitalism. The production of commodities such as tobacco, wheat, timber, and rum, as well as the use of enslaved labour, created a class of colonial merchants, planters, and professionals whose interests increasingly conflicted with those of the British imperial government.
Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War resulted in a substantial imperial debt. The Crown sought to increase revenue from the colonies via taxes and tighter administrative oversight. This was not driven by ethical concerns but by a material conflict between a growing bourgeois class and a declining imperial system.
The colonies operated as economically capitalist entities but remained politically subordinate to a monarchical and aristocratic state. This contradiction—capitalist economic relations existing under feudal political structures—was the root of the revolutionary crisis. The Declaration represents the ideological resolution to this conflict.
The Declaration’s phrases—“self-evident truths,” “unalienable rights,” “consent of the governed”—embody the core principles of Enlightenment rationalism. However, Enlightenment ideas were not purely abstract philosophy; they formed the ideological foundation of an advancing bourgeois class.
Locke’s theory of natural rights mainly served to justify private property. His well-known idea that property comes from labour isn’t an absolute truth but rather a bourgeois rationalisation that supports capitalist accumulation. Jefferson’s version— “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”—also reflects this classical perspective. The rights declared in the Declaration appear universal in structure but are bourgeois in substance.
The statement that “all men are created equal” was not a philosophical assertion. Instead, it served as a political tool to oppose aristocracy, monarchy, and inherited privilege. In this context, equality referred to equal legal status within a capitalist system, not equal social or economic conditions.
The Declaration’s reference to “self-evident truths” embodies the Enlightenment belief that society could be restructured based on rational principles. This expressed the bourgeoisie’s desire to overthrow irrational feudal systems. Reason was a revolutionary force—yet its revolutionary potential was confined within the bounds of bourgeois society.
The main authors of the Declaration were members of the colonial bourgeoisie, including lawyers, merchants, planters, and intellectuals. They articulated grievances related to taxation, trade restrictions, and imperial oversight, which were rooted in class interests. While artisans, small farmers, and urban labourers also significantly contributed to the revolutionary movement, their interests differed from those of the bourgeois elite. However, the imperial crisis temporarily unified these diverse groups with a shared purpose.
The Declaration’s universalism intentionally excluded enslaved Africans and indigenous peoples, reflecting a deliberate choice tied to the bourgeois revolution within a slave society. The tension between universal equality and racial slavery is not merely moral but also reveals a core contradiction in bourgeois property relations. Its most radical claim—that people can “alter or abolish” any government threatening their rights—appears revolutionary but fundamentally aligns with bourgeois interests.
The right of revolution was aimed at overthrowing monarchy and aristocracy, serving as the ideological basis for dismantling feudal political structures. While the bourgeoisie endorsed this right, they also feared it might threaten their own class interests. Interestingly, the same individuals who supported the right to overthrow oppressive governments also suppressed Shays’ Rebellion and slave uprisings.
The Declaration’s revolutionary ideas could not be fully put into practice within bourgeois society. Its focus on universal principles extended beyond capitalism itself. This is why the Declaration served as the ideological basis for the Civil War—the second American revolution—and why its principles are still not fully realised today.
The Declaration’s ideological roots are in the bourgeois revolution, but its future is with the working class. As the Socialist Equality Party states, the true successors of 1776 are not the representatives of the American ruling class, but the workers and youth fighting against inequality, war, and the erosion of democratic rights. The Declaration remains vital—not merely as a historical artefact, but as a revolutionary document that demands a socialist transformation of society.
The Ideological Function of Gordon Wood in American Historiography
Gordon S. Wood holds a unique place in American historical scholarship. He is both the most renowned interpreter of the American Revolution and a key defender of bourgeois ideological continuity. His introduction to Edward L. Widmer’s The Living Declaration exemplifies this duality. Wood describes the Declaration of Independence as the “most profound manifesto of democratic revolution in history,” but his framing diminishes its revolutionary significance for today.
Wood’s prose is refined and erudite, yet his approach remains largely conservative. He presents the Declaration as a victory of enlightened thought, deliberately sidestepping the societal contradictions that led to it and the volatile implications of its principles for modern capitalism. His introduction doesn’t advocate for revolutionary change but instead honours a heritage that has been safely preserved.
Wood’s opening highlights that the United States is “unique because it was founded entirely on a set of philosophical ideas rather than shared heritage or ethnicity.” This reflects Wood’s overall historiographical approach: emphasising ideology over material conditions and portraying the Revolution as a victory of enlightened ideas rather than as a struggle rooted in class, colonial economics, or imperial crises.
The issue isn’t that ideas had no role—they did. Instead, Wood overlooks how social forces shaped these ideas. He views the Declaration as a result of philosophical agreement, not a revolutionary break. That’s why Wood claims Jefferson’s statement that “all men are created equal” reflected the mainstream enlightened thought of the time. But this is historically questionable and politically telling. Equality wasn’t just a conventional idea; it challenged the entire hierarchical order dominated by monarchy, aristocracy, and hereditary privilege. Wood’s approach trivialises the Revolution by framing its most radical principle as a polite, common belief.
Wood emphasises Jefferson’s belief in a universal “moral sense,” even among enslaved people, implying that this shared empathy helped shape abolitionist arguments. This reflects Wood’s typical approach: a moral-philosophical interpretation that conceals the harsh material realities of slavery and the economic motives behind it. Jefferson’s moral sense did not stop him from enslaving people, nor did it prevent the new republic from establishing a constitutional framework that protected slave property for nearly a century. Wood’s reference to moral sense acts as a liberal justification—an effort to reconcile the universal ideals in the Declaration with the founders’ active participation in a slaveholding society.
A Marxist analysis begins from the opposite premise: the contradiction between universal equality and private property in human beings is not a moral paradox but a structural contradiction of bourgeois revolution. Wood cannot confront this because his method is idealistic rather than materialistic.
Wood’s introduction notably omits key points. He does not mention the Declaration’s claim that people can “alter or abolish” governments that threaten their rights. Additionally, he overlooks the relevance of this principle during the Civil War, which Lincoln viewed as the embodiment of the Declaration’s revolutionary ideas. Moreover, he neglects to consider how this principle applies in a society controlled by a financial oligarchy.
Wood’s introduction celebrates the ideals of the Declaration rather than analysing their outcomes. He commends the Revolution’s opposition to aristocracy but overlooks the rise of a new wealthy aristocracy. While praising equality, he ignores the significant inequality present in modern America. This is intentional, as Wood’s purpose in American historiography is to uphold the established order by framing the founding as a completed, accomplished event rather than an ongoing revolutionary process.
The Political Context: Wood vs the 1619 Project, and the Limits of Liberal Defence
Wood has been a notable critic of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, rightly pointing it out as a racialist distortion of history. However, his critique is constrained by his ideological biases. While he defends the Revolution against racial reductionism, he does so from a liberal perspective that fails to recognise the class struggles inherent in the Revolution or the enduring importance of its principles.The WSWS has shown that rejecting 1776 as a pro-slavery conspiracy, as the 1619 Project does, is both historically inaccurate and politically reactionary.However, Wood’s alternative—an idealist praise of enlightened ideas—falls short.It defends the founders but weakens the Declaration’s revolutionary significance.
Wood criticises the racialist distortion of history but fails to challenge the capitalist distortion. His introduction overlooks that today’s ruling class openly disregards every right listed in the Declaration. He is unable to admit that the Declaration’s revolutionary ideals condemn the social order he aims to maintain.
The Declaration as a Living Document: Wood’s Title, Widmer’s Book, and the Marxist Alternative
Wood agrees with Widmer’s idea of a “living declaration,” but he sees “living” as more conservative. To Wood, it’s alive because it continues to inspire civic pride and a sense of democracy. Widmer, however, believes it remains alive because each new generation has reinterpreted it. In contrast, Marxists see the Declaration as alive because its ideals remain unfulfilled, and achieving them would require a revolutionary societal change.
The Declaration remains alive not due to admiration but because it continues to reveal the contradictions within capitalist society. It stays relevant by affirming equality in a world marked by inequality and by declaring the right to revolution against oligarchic rule. Wood, however, cannot recognise this. His introduction romanticises the Declaration with reverent language while diminishing its revolutionary power.
Gordon Wood’s introduction to The Living Declaration is a refined, knowledgeable and ultimately conservative piece. It extols the ideals of the Declaration while toning down their implications. It defends the Revolution from racialist distortions yet sidesteps the class conflicts that influenced it. While praising equality, it overlooks the capitalist system that makes such equality unachievable. Overall, Wood’s introduction is not a genuine living declaration but a sanitised version that serves the interests of the ruling class.
Widmer’s Method: Liberal Antiquarianism in the Service of the Present Order
Widmer’s “biography” approach exemplifies the heritage industry in American historiography, as the WSWS frequently criticises. Instead of placing the Declaration within the ongoing dialectical evolution of bourgeois revolution, Widmer regards it as a cultural artefact whose “life” is shaped by how it has been received, reinterpreted, and symbolically employed over time.
This approach yields three distinct effects: First, the Revolution becomes depoliticised, as Widmer emphasises anecdotes, personalities, and textual idiosyncrasies, while minimising the Declaration’s significance as the ideological source of significant social change. Second, the contradictions of the Revolution are viewed through a psychological lens, transforming questions about class tensions, property rights, and slavery into moral or personal dilemmas rather than material disputes. Third, the current situation is presented as natural.
The Declaration as Revolutionary Manifesto: What Widmer Cannot Confront
Widmer’s account cannot encompass the Declaration’s most radical claim: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…”
This is not just a decorative element; it forms the heart of the document. As David North stated, the principles of the Declaration “were obtained through the application of scientific thought, i.e., Reason,” and their revolutionary power remains because they express universal, not just colonial, claims.
Widmer’s biography treats this passage as a historical footnote rather than an active critique of today’s capitalist oligarchy that rules the United States. He fails to recognise that the Declaration’s underlying logic extends beyond bourgeois society itself—suggesting that the promise of equality conflicts with a social system in which a few billionaires possess more wealth than the entire bottom half of humanity. Addressing this would mean acknowledging the Declaration’s role in the Civil War—the so-called “second American revolution”—and its ongoing significance to modern working-class struggles. Yet, Widmer completely sidesteps this connection.
Widmer’s book comes at a time when the Declaration faces fierce political debate. Two main forces drive this contest: The New York Times’ 1619 Project criticises the Declaration as a hypocritical document meant to defend slavery. As the WSWS has shown, this view is both historically inaccurate and politically reactionary. It ignores the revolutionary significance of 1776 and reduces the American Revolution to a racial myth. Widmer does not oppose this false narrative; instead, it sidesteps it.
The ruling elite claims the Declaration as a patriotic symbol while simultaneously ignoring every right it guarantees. Patrick Martin pointed out that “Every basic right enumerated in it is openly flouted.” The right to revolution is dismissed as sedition, extreme inequalities undermine equality, and due process is compromised through widespread surveillance and militarised policing. Widmer does not challenge this contradiction; instead, he aestheticises it. In both instances, Widmer’s silence aligns with the ideological interests of the current order. His biography does not defend the revolutionary ideals of the Declaration but rather contributes to their neutralisation.
Bourgeois Scholarship and the Neutralisation of Revolution
Widmer’s book highlights the wider limitations of bourgeois historiography. It lauds the Declaration as an element of America’s “heritage” but neglects its revolutionary core. This aligns with James P. Cannon’s warning: “Nobody can sell me the Fourth of July speeches which represent the start as the finish and the promise as the fulfilment.” Widmer’s biography resembles a Fourth of July speech in book form, presenting the Declaration as a finished accomplishment instead of an ongoing revolutionary effort.
A truly critical biography of the Declaration would place it in the context of the global crisis of the ancien régime and the emergence of bourgeois revolution. It would examine its Enlightenment roots—drawing from Locke, Scottish moral philosophers, and 18th-century scientific rationalism. It would reveal contradictions in its founding, such as slavery, property relations, and class conflicts. The biography would track its lasting revolutionary influence, particularly in the Civil War and abolition movements. It would also show its incompatibility with modern capitalism, where equality cannot exist under private ownership of the means of production. The biography would highlight the working class as the agent capable of realising its promise. However, Widmer’s biography does none of these; it is not a living Declaration but an embalmed one.
Conclusion: The Declaration Lives—But Not in Widmer’s Book
Widmer’s The Living Declaration is a refined, accessible, and ultimately conservative account. It provides a biography of the Declaration that is suitable for corporate publishers, university lectures, and Fourth of July celebrations. It avoids addressing the Declaration’s revolutionary potential today or recognising the social forces that could bring its promises to fruition. The Declaration endures—though not within Widmer’s family-friendly narrative. It persists in the working class’s struggles against inequality, war, and the erosion of democratic rights. Its principles serve as a critique of tyranny and a rallying cry for revolutionary change. Widmer’s book is a biography; the working class will author the sequel
A Trumpet of Sedition 