The Impact of the U.S. Declaration of Independence on the Greek Revolution 

The U.S. Declaration of Independence is a key founding document of our country and has proven itself to be influential for nations around the world. It has helped shape U.S. leaders over the decades and has appeared as a reference in international freedom movements. The Declaration of Independence has inspired people to pursue liberty and fight for freedom within their own cultures and contexts. This essay focuses on how the U.S. influenced Greece’s Declaration of Independence and their freedom from the Ottoman Empire.  

The American Revolution was a model for countries across Europe who struggled with non-representative government and restrictions on freedom. During and after America’s fight for independence from Britain, the new country became an icon, an inspiration of hope for oppressed peoples. Greece felt the patriotic spirit emanating from the United States, drawing parallels from the American Revolution to their own fight with the Ottomans.  

The Ottoman Empire had been ruling Greece for over four centuries, oppressing the Greek people with a tyrannical system of government. The Greeks argued that the Ottomans were depriving the people of their basic rights- very similarly to American complaints against British rule of the colonies. Uprisings against the Ottomans had occurred but failed between the years 1770-1774, prior to the American Revolution.¹  

1821 marked the official beginning of Greek Revolution, which lasted until about 1830.² During the Greek War of Independence, the U.S. was not only an inspiration for the Greek rebels, but also an outspoken sponsor of the revolution. Americans organized successful collections to send aid to Greece, built ships for the country, and funded their war effort. American public figures gave speeches and praised the rebels for their determination and courage.³ It became clear that the Greek Revolution was more than simply a political or territorial conflict; it was also a war of principles and ideologies, a sign that the world was changing.  

As the Greeks pursued liberty from oppressive rulers just as the Americans had done, they also needed a founding document to establish their new country’s official separation from the Ottomans. The Greek Declaration of Independence was penned in 1822 and outlines the reasons for the revolution in a compelling, emotionally driven manner. 

One of the major factors that sparked the American Revolution was the desire to defend the rights of the American people. Jefferson says in his Declaration that basic human rights are “unalienable.”⁴ Jefferson argued that it is the responsibility of the citizens of a nation to free themselves from a government that oppresses their rights and does not respect the needs of the people. 

This idea of basic, unalienable rights was critical to the minds behind the Greek Revolution. The Greek Declaration addresses the state of the Geek people under Ottoman tyranny. The author laments that the tyrannical Ottoman Empire had deprived the Greek people of the basic rights that other nations enjoyed. The Greek Declaration asks if Greeks should be counted as lesser than their European neighbors, utilizing rhetorical tactics that reflect the brilliance of Jefferson’s Declaration. According to the author of the Greek Declaration, the Ottomans treated the Greeks as “beasts of burden or mere automatons,”⁵ forcing them into a degrading servitude.  

Very similarly to the U.S. counterpart, the Greek declaration says that rights are something that cannot be taken from a person. The document says, ‘Nature has deeply graven these rights in the hearts of all men…”⁶ This phrase mimics Jefferson’s view of human rights: that they are given to man by his Creator and therefore cannot be removed.⁷ 

Both Declarations agree that human rights are determined by an entity that is greater than the individual. This belief indicates that a government cannot take away the rights of any citizen; these rights are permanent and part of being human. The American Revolution sparked a change on the world scene and paved the way for future movements in align with this core doctrine of unalienable rights.  

Another way that the Greek Declaration of Independence reflects the U.S. counterpart is through Christian terminology and ideas, which are woven throughout both documents. Both the American colonies and the emerging Greece nation saw themselves as justified in their revolutions because they believed that God had empowered them; this faith is evidenced in both Declarations. 

Jefferson’s Declaration draws a framework of alienable rights from the biblical idea that all men are created equal by God. He writes that citizens of a county must consent to be governed by a system that will protect their God-given rights; if that government becomes “destructive” of these rights, it is a responsibility of the nation to establish a new government.⁸ In the latter part of the U.S. Declaration, Jefferson refers to God as the Supreme Judge to whom the colonists appeal.⁹  

The Greeks directly refer to themselves as Christians in their Declaration, explaining that they wish to join the rest of the European Christian brothers in freedom.¹⁰ Mirroring Jefferson’s document, the language in the Greek Declaration reveals that they believed God was on the side of the rebels, strengthening them to fight their war. The author writes: “…the all-powerful God has succored us…,”¹¹ demonstrating his belief that the Greeks were supernaturally supported. 

The U.S. Declaration of Independence is a prime example of a globally influential historical document. The U.S. Declaration’s influence did not stop with the Greek Declaration; it continued into the formation of the Greek constitutions as the newly independent nation secured itself on the world stage. The impact of America’s independence from Great Britain was felt in Europe and all over the world, inspiring other countries to fight against oppressive ruling forces.  

Bibliography 

1 – Greek National Assembly. “The Greek Declaration of Independence” 1822. Accessed April 12, 2026, https://declarationproject.org/?p=1592  

2 – Israel, Jonathan Irvine. The Expanding Blaze: How the American Revolution Ignited the World, 1775-1848. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2017. 

3 – Jefforson, Thomas “Declaration of Independence” National Archives, 1776. Accessed April 11, 2026, Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives 

4 – Klapsis, Antonis. “Constitutions of the Greek War of Independence and the International Standing of the Greek State, 1821-1830.” The International History Review, March 1–15. 2025. Accessed April 16, 2026, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2025.2474020 

5-11 – Ibid

Leia Asensio, a student at Liberty University, authored this article as part of VOC’s Student Essay Contest.