Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, a member of the tobacco planter class and a delegate to the rebel Continental Congress, wrote the Declaration of Independence of the United States. With one hand Jefferson owned more than 600 slaves during his adult life. With the other hand he wrote that all men are created equal and that they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Jefferson’s social peers in the Congress signed the Declaration on July 4, 1776.
The Declaration contains 27 grievances from the Americans of the 13 colonies against England’s King George III. The grievances tell of his tyranny over his colonial subjects.
In the wake of the recent No Kings protests across this billionaire-oppressed nation, let us look at three of those grievances from 1776 and ask if they have any comparison with the actions and policies of President Trump during this epoch of social revolution, when masses of working people are losing their livelihoods and joining the political struggle.
ICE RAIDS
The current ICE raids are being carried out under Trump’s Executive Order 14159 of January 20, 2025. It revoked several prior executive orders from the Biden administration and directed federal agencies to aggressively enforce immigration laws, particularly through expanded use of expedited removal and increased cooperation with state and local law enforcement under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Trump’s executive order can in a sense be compared to this grievance from 1776: “He [King George] has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.” Both the executive order and the grievance address the issue of restricting immigration and making it more difficult for foreigners to obtain naturalization. These nationwide raids have terrorized whole families and communities to the point where people – no matter their status – are afraid to leave their homes to attend school or go to work. The Washington Post reported that the climate of fear because of ICE is putting pressure on local economies.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was established on January 20 with the stated objective of modernizing information technology, maximizing productivity, cutting excess regulations and spending. DOGE has facilitated mass layoffs and the dismantling of agencies and government-funded organizations. It has also assisted with immigration crackdowns and copied sensitive data from government databases. The recent shutdown of USAID and the cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid can be seen as efforts to undermine federal programs and harass the population by reducing essential services.
In a sense, DOGE can be compared with another grievance from 1776: “He [King George] has erected a multitude of new offices and sent here swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” Trump did the same by creating and deploying DOGE to harass the American people, similar to the actions of King George in 1776. Before the recent Trump-Musk split, DOGE was reported to have looted hundreds of billions of dollars through layoffs and shutting federal down agencies.
Another grievance in the Declaration denounced King George as follows: “He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.”
The federalization of the California National Guard without the consent of the governor of California parallels this grievance. The president’s decision to deploy the guard in Los Angeles without the governor’s consent aligns with the grievance against the English king’s keeping a standing army of Redcoats in the colonies without local consent and was perceived as an infringement on the rights and autonomy of the American colonies which had no representation in Parliament in London.
RIGHT AND DUTY
Jefferson wrote that governments are created to protect people’s rights and that they get their authority to govern from the consent of the people. If a government becomes harmful, the people have the right to change or replace it to ensure their safety and happiness.
He added that people tend to endure suffering rather than change long-established governments for minor reasons. However, when a government consistently abuses its power and aims to establish absolutely unlimited rule, it is the people’s right and duty to overthrow it and establish new protections for their future security.
A revolution and a new government enable the necessary reforms that were not possible under the old government. The American Revolution of 1776 led to an independent federal republic with separate Constitutional powers. Compared to the English monarchy, the new United States was a more representative democracy, but it was only for white men of property like Jefferson and his peers.
However, the American revolution is not finished. New generations of Americans since Independence have come forward figuratively to sign the Declaration of Independence in the name of emancipation, equal rights, jobs, housing, public education, universal health care and peace. Fighting to guarantee that people’s basic needs are met is fighting to overturn the system of class exploitation forever and ensure the people’s safety and happiness in a cooperative society.
This is our American revolutionary moment.
Published on July 3rd, 2025
This article originated in Rally!
P.O. Box 477113 Chicago, IL 60647 rally@lrna.org
Free to reproduce unless otherwise marked.
Please include this message with any reproduction
