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American scripture : making the Declaration of Independence
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1997
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Library Journal Review
Maier (American history, MIT; From Resistance to Revolution, LJ 7/72) sets the stage for her fascinating history of the Declaration of Independence with a concise and well-written introduction into the political background of the American Revolution. She provides the context for the document within the British tradition of declarations, addresses, and petitions and relates it to the many local and state declarations that aimed to mobilize support for independence. The thrust of her work is a careful examination of the drafting of the document by Jefferson and the Congressional committee; she then describes how Congress edited it into its final form. The latter third of the book is dedicated to the ways in which the Declaration has been redefined and used by different groups of Americans. Combining meticulous scholarship with clear prose, Maier tells a compelling story that will succeed in winning her a general audience. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/97.]‘David B. Mattern, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
How is it that a document that was at points derivative, specious, inflated and politically compromised came to take on almost sacred significance in American culture? In fact, few Americans have bothered to examine much beyond a few choice clauses from the preamble ("all men are created equal... life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" etc.). But Maier (The Old Revolutionaries) certainly has. After a succinct and engaging account of the circumstances of the Second Continental Congress, she examines Jefferson's models, particularly the state and local declarations of independence framed in the spring of 1776. Maier then looks carefully at the work's original (though now largely ignored) purpose‘the airing of grievances against George III, some of which were localized insults generalized to the nation; some, so vague as to be pointless; some, blinkered versions of complex situations. Having set the stage, Maier then proceeds in the last quarter of her book to describe the evolving significance of the Declaration. Whereas Jefferson began to see it as his best chance at glory with the Republicans, who exploited it as an anti-British instrument, Lincoln used it to refute Stephen Douglas and, ultimately, slavery. It's not a terribly long book and could probably have been shorter‘there are superfluities and tautologies (e.g. restating the point that leveling accusations at the king was the way Englishmen declared revolution). But these are stylistic quibbles. As an argument and an introduction to a crucial artifact of American culture, this book will clearly take its place alongside works by Michael Kammen and Garry Wills. 30,000 first printing. (July 4) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
CHOICE Review
Maier, a premier scholar in early American history, has crafted an excellent work on the Declaration of Independence that will become a classic. Young scholars will devour it as older generations did Carl Becker's The Declaration of Independence (1922). This well-researched study will disturb some, in that it removes the sacred mantle that enshrouds Jefferson. It is Maier's thesis that authorship of the Declaration was not Jefferson's to claim. The final document owed a debt to many, including George Mason, the drafting Committee of Five, and most important, Congress. Maier concludes that congressional editing turned "a pretty good draft" into an eloquent document "consonant with the convictions" of the American people. The work is made stronger by its final chapter, "American Scripture," which outlines how the Declaration evolved to become the document revered by Americans. Like the original effort, this continuous remaking process is a collective act. All libraries. J. J. Fox Jr.; Salem State College
Booklist Review
This analysis of the initial crafting of the Declaration of Independence and its subsequent metamorphosis into a sacred document is a worthy successor to Carl Becker's landmark 1922 publication The Declaration of Independence. Instead of assuming the Declaration and the political ideas it expounded were essentially European in origin, Maier places the document itself and the process by which it was conceived and executed firmly in the context of eighteenth-century American sensibilities. By evaluating the Declaration of Independence as a homegrown expression of colonial discontent, it becomes a natural extension of prior revolutionary activities and ideologies rather than a precursor to the rebellion. After the Declaration caused its initial sensation, it served merely as a footnote to the history of the Revolutionary War until well into the nineteenth century, when it was resurrected, revitalized, and ultimately transformed into sanctified dogma. A powerful and engrossing account of the document most responsible for defining the cultural ethos of the American citizenry. Sure to become a classic, this is recommended for most public library collections. --Margaret Flanagan
Kirkus Review
Outstanding. Maier (The Old Revolutionaries, 1980, etc.; History/MIT) employs superior historiography and political sensitivity to place the Declaration in its original context, and considers what it has become in the context of American political history. By examining the ``other declarations'' adopted by individual colonies and towns, she identifies common components later incorporated into the Declaration--including lists of grievances and appeals to norms limiting the exercise of authority--that indicate it was an embodiment of familiar sentiments rather than a radical break with established opinion. Jefferson's role as draftsman, and especially the contributions made by other members of the drafting committee and the Continental Congress as a whole, are traced in meticulous detail. Most importantly, we are reminded that in the midst of prosecuting a war the Declaration was only one item on a crowded agenda, and not a prolonged effort to create a document for the ages. Indeed, having served its purpose, the Declaration was basically forgotten for a couple of decades after its adoption. It resurfaced in the partisan politics of the Jeffersonian party, and Lincoln subsequently shaped it into a central symbol of the mature United States. Lincoln's version of the Declaration, however, emphasized human rights as a justification for Union action against rebels, while downplaying its status as an instrument of revolution. When text supposedly quoting the Declaration was inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial, all traces of a challenge to governmental authority had disappeared. For Maier the ``making'' of the Declaration, then, has been an ongoing project rather than a historical episode. Consequently, she decries the memorialized display of the Declaration in the National Archives. It is not simply a historical watermark to be consigned to the past. Its symbolic power, she asserts, needs still to be wielded by those continuing the search for political justice and freedom. Arguably, the best book ever written on the Declaration of Independence. (First printing of 30,000)
Summary
Pauline Maier shows us the Declaration as both the defining statement of our national identity and the moral standard by which we live as a nation. It is truly "American Scripture," and Maier tells us how it came to be -- from the Declaration's birth in the hard and tortuous struggle by which Americans arrived at Independence to the ways in which, in the nineteenth century, the document itself became sanctified.

Maier describes the transformation of the Second Continental Congress into a national government, unlike anything that preceded or followed it, and with more authority than the colonists would ever have conceded to the British Parliament; the great difficulty in making the decision for Independence; the influence of Paine's Common Sense , which shifted the terms of debate; and the political maneuvers that allowed Congress to make the momentous decision.

In Maier's hands, the Declaration of Independence is brought close to us. She lets us hear the voice of the people as revealed in the other "declarations" of 1776: the local resolutions -- most of which have gone unnoticed over the past two centuries -- that explained, advocated, and justified Independence and undergirded Congress's work. Detective-like, she discloses the origins of key ideas and phrases in the Declaration and unravels the complex story of its drafting and of the group-editing job which angered Thomas Jefferson.

Maier also reveals what happened to the Declaration after the signing and celebration: how it was largely forgotten and then revived to buttress political arguments of the nineteenth century; and, most important, how Abraham Lincoln ensured its persistence as a living force in American society. Finally, she shows how by the very act of venerating the Declaration as we do -- by holding it as sacrosanct, akin to holy writ -- we may actually be betraying its purpose and its power.
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