This week on Dave Does History, we dig into one of the most powerful lines in the Declaration of Independence: “a long train of abuses and usurpations.” You have heard it before, but what does it really mean? Jefferson was not just stringing together fancy words, he was deliberately echoing England’s own history. From Charles I losing his head in the Civil War, to James II’s downfall in the Glorious Revolution, to John Locke’s defense of liberty, the phrase carried a weight every educated reader in 1776 would have recognized. Jefferson was holding up a mirror to Parliament, reminding them that Americans were standing on the very same principles the English once fought for. By turning their own arguments against them, Jefferson gave the Declaration its sting and its legitimacy. Join us as we trace the thread from Stuart England to Philadelphia and see how Jefferson’s quill tied two revolutions together.

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