An Annotated Declaration for Our Time

Grievances revisited and revised

As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence, we are called not only to commemorate our founding but also to ask what we are willing to do to preserve the democracy it created.

The Declaration of Independence outlined the principles of our new nation, and offered a carefully reasoned indictment of a leader who had abandoned the rule of law and shown himself “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” It cataloged the abuses of power that the founders believed threatened both individual and collective freedom, and it asserted the right — and responsibility — of citizens to resist those abuses and imperial power.

As we mark the nation’s semiquincentennial, we look to this founding document as a standard against which to measure the health of our democracy. The grievances that animated the founders were concrete assaults on the rule of law: a king who blocked laws passed by representative bodies, made judges dependent on his will, imposed taxes without consent, denied trial by jury, maintained standing armies in times of peace, and incited violence against his own subjects.

These were the unmistakable signs of a government that had become destructive of the very ends for which it was instituted: the security of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, our nation is contending with a president who has demonstrated autocratic ambitions, attacked the checks and balances that constrain executive power, and shown a willingness to place himself above the law. The founders had a word for such acts: usurpations.

We are at what future historians will define as a critical juncture. The 250th anniversary of this nation is an opportunity to ask whether we have lived up to the principles and ideals of our founding and whether we are prepared to defend them when they come under assault. More importantly, it asks what we will do to preserve the democracy that so many have fought to uphold time and again: in the struggle for independence from imperial rule; in the defeat of the rebellion by the Southern states that sought to preserve the anti-democratic, inhumane institution of slavery; and in the women’s, labor, and Civil Rights movements that aimed to fulfil the promise that all people are created equal.

This annotated version of the Declaration of Independence is offered in that spirit. It names what we clearly see and outlines why we are part of a broad coalition committed to defending our democracy.

DEFENDING THE RULE OF LAW

“He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”

He has attempted to impose his vision and agenda on the American people and run roughshod over our system of checks and balances.

• One of Trump’s first executive orders attempted to end birthright citizenship, a constitutional right.

• The president installed government officials who fundamentally do not believe in government. He has worked to dissolve entire agencies of the executive branch established by duly-enacted laws, including the Department of Education and USAID. Pro-democracy advocates have countered this agenda through litigation, policy advocacy, and mass mobilization.

“He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.”

He has shown a willingness to disobey court orders, including ignoring federal judges’ rulings on immigrant deportations.

• Trump deported more than 200 Venezuelan residents without a hearing, sending them to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador against a federal judge’s orders.

• He fired immigration judges, military generals/leaders, and legions of federal workers who facilitated legal proceedings and investigations.

“He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.”

He has filled the judiciary and Department of Justice with loyalists who have demonstrated a willingness to flout the rule of law and do his bidding.

• The president has nominated federal judges based on alignment with his policy priorities and readiness to carry out his bidding. Nowhere was this clearer than in his nomination of Emil Bove to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, who, in his short time as Deputy Attorney General, acted as Trump’s personal henchman, rather than an attorney for the people.

• This is also true of Trump’s unilateral appointments to U.S. Attorneys’ offices. Democracy Defenders Fund has helped remove multiple U.S. Attorneys illegally appointed by the Trump administration, and stopped the politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials (e.g., Letitia James and James Comey) by those attorneys.

“He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.”

He has militarized the national guard and deployed federal troops to cities and states without the permission or request of their governors or state legislatures.

• The pro-democracy movement has successfully forced Trump to withdraw the National Guard from several cities through court challenges, affirming the constitutional principle that military force cannot be deployed domestically without local consent.

PROTECTING FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

“He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.”

He has attempted to usurp the power of the states by issuing executive orders that would federalize control over America’s elections, a power the president does not possess.

• Trump issued two Executive Orders (14399 & 14248) that attempt to assert presidential control over election administration and voter registration.

• The pro-democracy movement has succeeded in blocking key provisions of these orders, such as federal agency intervention in voter registration, Trump’s attempts at expanding proof-of-citizenship requirements, and his weaponization of the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail-in voting.

“He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected.”

He has ordered GOP-led states to gerrymander Republican districts in an attempt to silence dissenting voices.

• He has interfered in state elections to ensure that state legislators support his redistricting plans, targeting and ousting incumbents who resisted.

• Trump has supported gerrymanders in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina — moves that suppressed marginalized voices and that local policymakers admitted were intended to cement one-party control of state congressional delegations.

“He has abdicated government here, by declaring us outside of his protection and waging war against us.”

He attempted to overturn a free and fair election by inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. When that failed, he encouraged election denialism and later rewarded the rioters who attacked our democracy.

• He encouraged a group of insurrectionists and election deniers to storm the Capitol after the 2020 election.

• Trump then pardoned these insurrectionists, including white supremacist leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, and created a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund for the government’s “wrongful targeting” of them.

• The pro-democracy movement succeeded in pressuring Trump to abandon the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund for January 6th rioters. A bipartisan coalition continues to advocate for elections free from unconstitutional executive interference.

Fighting Corruption

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”

He installed Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, to head the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and allowed him (the world’s wealthiest man) to dismantle long-standing federal organizations and congressionally appropriated grants.

• Trump directed DOGE to access federal payment systems and personnel databases at agencies including the Treasury and OPM, seize the U.S. Institute of Peace, and oversee spending of the multi-million dollar National Endowments for the Humanities and Arts.

• The pro-democracy movement succeeded in pushing for Elon Musk’s departure and the closure of DOGE. In one case, we successfully secured an injunction blocking DOGE’s Access to OPM records.

“He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.”

He has used public office to enrich himself, demolished the East Wing of the White House, and vandalized the reflecting pool, all while the American people deal with inflation and stagnant wages. Moreover, he has sent ICE agents into America’s cities to harass citizens and noncitizens alike, leading to the disruption of daily life for those who live there and multiple civilian deaths.

• Trump used an estimated $300 million of taxpayer funds to renovate the White House with a ballroom, and recently spent more than $16 million to drain and repaint a reflecting pool “American-Flag Blue.”

• In 2025 and 2026, ICE conducted large-scale operations in Minneapolis, Chicago, and other cities, targeting individuals with no criminal records. ICE responded to a nonviolent protest against this operation with violence, resulting in countless injuries and the ICE killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two citizens in Minneapolis.

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The Declaration of Independence concludes its bill of grievances with a stark judgment: “A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

The American experiment began with a refusal to accept a sovereign’s abuse of power and a determination to place the rule of law above the will of any single leader. The Founders put forth a declaration that imagined a free and just country. Although they fell short of that vision, they planted the ideals that future generations would act upon to force this nation to pursue and live up to its promise. The words “all men are created equal” became a rallying cry for the abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights leaders who demanded that America honor its founding principles.

Our work is in the same spirit of resistance to tyranny and authoritarian ambitions, and we, too, envision a country that lives up to the ideal that no one is above the law, and where everyone has a voice — we persistently pursue these founding ideals through the courts and at the ballot box.

Susan Corke is the executive director of Democracy Defenders Action and Democracy Defenders Fund.