Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-189) and index.

Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Who is the God of the Declaration? -- What are "the laws of nature and nature's God"? -- How can Jefferson's views of equality and slavery be reconciled? -- Conclusion -- Appendix: the Declaration of Independence -- Notes -- Index.

"In America Declares Independence, one of the nation's most distinguished and celebrated attorneys tackles disturbing questions head on. Noting that portions of the Declaration are frequently "wrenched out of context by partisan pleaders to promote parochial causes," Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz explores the document's history, theology, and political theory in search of its true and enduring meaning. No stranger to controversy, Dershowitz also assails some of the Declaration's underlying assumptions and questions the conclusions that these assumptions produced." "Drawing on the personal letters and published writings of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and others, Dershowitz demonstrates that the men who wrote and revised the Declaration had no intention of establishing a Christian nation. He reveals that Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration, "rejected all the central tenets of orthodox Christianity" and closely resembled what today's Religious Right would call a "secular humanist."" "In his examinations of the contradictions inherent in the Declaration regarding equality and slavery, Dershowitz points out Jefferson's personal contradictions on the issue. His complex set of conflicting ideas and beliefs is seen as a microcosm of the conflicts over slavery that existed at the time and would eventually lead to the Civil War."--Jacket.