Comparison between US Declaration of Independence and Korea’s Proclamation of In dependence

Declaration of Independence was written after the United States of America became independent. It was written by Tomas Jefferson and it contains basic foundation of democracy. It claims natural and legal rights that US citizens deserve. It mentions that all mans are equal with life liberty and pursuit and happiness. Declaration of independence is treated as foundation of democracy basically because it holds citizens’ right to revolt against their government. The declaration said that government exists for the people in the nation and when the government happen to violates citizens’ rights and freedoms, citizens have freedom to revolt and establish new government. Declaration of Independence provides basic dignity for their own citizens.

Korea’s Proclamation of Independence was written before the 31 movement(protest) and announced during the movement. Korea was colonized by Japanese imperialists. Korean people’s rights and freedoms, even their life, were threatened by Japanese. There were multiple movements and protests against Japanese in that period and one of them was 31 movement. The leading group of people who held the protest wrote the proclamation. They announced it during the protest and asked Japanese to grant them freedom. However, 31 movement was repressed by Japanese. The Proclamation of Independence could not actually bring independence of Korea.

Both Declaration of Independence and Proclamation of Independence deal with each nation’s independence. Even though the values that they provided for their citizens were different, both declaration mentioned their citizens’ basic rights and freedoms. Also, they pursued equality of human being. Declaration of Independence in the United States and Korea’s Proclamation of Independence were written in different culture with different perspective. However, both declaration tried to achieve ultimate happiness of their citizens.

Machiavelli, Tupac(Makaveli), and Lao Tzu

Machiavelli’s philosophy on methods of ruling people are well guided through his book ‘The prince’. Machiavelli is one of the most famous persons in Italian Renaissance history, known as diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet, and writer. The Prince provides a method to maintain absolute power. In the period of Renaissance, entire Europe was shocked by reading this book because the book was completely ignoring moral values of the ruler. The book valued the King’s power over every other values such as people’s will, freedoms, rights, etc.

Tupac was in prison for a sexual abuse. While he was in a jail, he happened to read The Prince. He was inspired by Machiavelli’s idea of politics and named himself ‘Makaveli’. Tupac was enlightened and he continued to develop Machiavelli’s philosophy. He was a famous rapper and, mostly, he wrote his song containing Machiavelli’s philosophy. After Tupac died, his associates released his album named Makaveli. We can see Machiavelli’s thoughts in his lyrics.

The most memorable expression that we discussed in the class was ‘ Master does nothing yet he leaves nothing undone’ in Tao Te Ching, written by Lao Tzu. He claimed Daoism in terms of politics. Daoism presented the way to rule people. However, the fundamental background was differ from ‘The Prince’. Daoism claimed that everything should not be regulated. It emphasized the form of nature and believed everything will run well when there is no interruption. I believe that the expression ‘ Master does nothing yet he leaves nothing undone’ symbolizes kings’ life. Since a king has many servants, king usually orders people to do something, rather than doing them by himself.

Both philosopher, Machiavelli and Lao Tzu, presented the guidance for rulers, but the way and the value of their thoughts were different.