If you ever really want to contest the Declaration of Independence, bring a lunch, so we'll have something to eat.
A group of British barristers debated a group of American lawyers about the legality of the Declaration recently in Philadelphia. Their point was that the actions taken by the Continental Congress were treasonous, and they have a point. If any of the signers of the Declaration and other leaders of the Revolution had been captured, they would have been hanged for their trouble.
No-one has ever claimed that the decision by the American colonists in 1776 was legal under British law. That was kind of the point of the 7 years of war we fought to convince the British that continued efforts to bring us back into the fold weren't worth the effort. We're not saying that in this instance might makes right, but if George III was so convinced in his own divine right to rule, then he should have found a way to win the war.
Yeah, I know the debate was mostly just tongue in cheek navel gazing and an opportunity for two nations that have grown very close over the past 235 years to get together and go over an old historical point of law. But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank the Lord for those cantankerous landowners and smugglers in the 18th century who decided they didn't want their descendants to grow up in Southern Canada and started a war over it.
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