Wartości zawarte w Deklaracji Niepodległości i jej twórcy w przemówieniach inauguracyjnych prezydentów Stanów Zjednoczonych w latach 1941–2001

Abstract

(Title in Polish - 'Wartosci zawarte w Deklaracji Niepodleglosci i jej twórcy w przemówieniach prezydentów Stanów Zjednmoczonych w latach 1941-2001'). The American Declaration of Independence (1776) is one of the documents which has been mentioned in the presidential inaugural speeches from the very beginning. It has become a very significant document quoted in almost each presidential acceptance, inaugural, state of the union and farewell address. References to the Declaration of Independence appear in these documents more frequently than to the Constitution of the United States. The 20th and 21st centuries are an accurate reflection of this thesis. At the close of the 20th century, references to the US Constitution were gradually disappearing and the concepts included in the Declaration of Independence (freedom, peace, strength, democracy, responsibility, hope, faith, life etc.) were moving to the foreground. Consequently, this document plays a crucial role in the activity of the architects of American policy. This paper focuses mostly on concepts contained in the Declaration of Independence and their functioning in the presidential papers and the whole American history. It also includes citations and historical facts of US politics. The article presents 17 inaugural addresses from 1941 till 2001. In these documents there were 165 references to the idea of freedom, 93 references to peace, 64 to strength, 47 to life, 45 to democracy, 39 to responsibility, 37 to hope, 34 to the American spirit and 32 to faith etc. In the inaugural addresses one can observe the effort to retain the memory of Founding Fathers and to spread the system of their values. The choice of the messages in inaugural speeches is not accidental. They maintain and deepen the faith in the messianic role of the United States of America, her power and strength and the eligibility to put the world in order. The present study provides a thorough analysis of the values contained in the Declaration of Independence and their role in the American domestic and foreign policy. In spite of many existing publications on the subject, few of them aim to analyze all aspects of this topic. The authoress' approach tries to offer not only a deep insight into American system of values and their influence on everyday lives of Americans but also an analysis of views on American history and politics.