Publisher： Cambridge University Press
E-ISSN： 1748-6858|42|2|216-248
ISSN： 0034-6705
Source： Review of Politics, Vol.42, Iss.2, 1980-04, pp. : 216-248
Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.
Abstract
Few documents have so influenced the course of history as has the American Declaration of Independence, now more than two centuries old. The Founding Fathers seem to have realized, with their usual clairvoyance, that no diplomacy can succeed without representing some intrinsic values, and the great Declaration established a moral basis for American international relations by announcing principles of universal validity. As Abraham Lincoln pointed out, “Our Declaration of Independence meant liberty not alone for the people of this country but hope for all the world for all future time. It means in due course the weight should be lifted from the shoulders of all men.” In the spirit of the Declaration of Independence no other human experience in the last two centuries has been so attractive to liberty-seeking people as the American experiment — called, not without warrant, “the permanent revolution.” In the early years of the Republic, Thomas Paine stated with prophetic vision:
Related content
The "New Diplomacy" and American National Interests
American Foreign Policy Interests, Vol. 23, Iss. 1, 2001-02 ,pp. :
Access to resources
Recommend
Diplomacy in Bad Faith: American–Iranian Relations Today
By Kaussler Bernd Newkirk Anthony B.
Diplomacy & Statecraft, Vol. 23, Iss. 2, 2012-06 ,pp. :
Hidden Diplomacy: The German–American Dispute over Iran
American Foreign Policy Interests, Vol. 36, Iss. 4, 2014-07 ,pp. :
Review of International Studies, Vol. 19, Iss. 1, 1993-01 ,pp. :