The Court of King George III
London, England
July 10, 1776
Mr. Thomas Jefferson
c/o The Continental Congress
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dear Mr. Jefferson:
We have read your "Declaration of Independence" with great interest.
Certainly, it represents a considerable undertaking, and many of your statements
do merit serious consideration. Unfortunately, the Declaration as a whole fails
to meet recently adopted specifications for proposals to the Crown, so we must
return the document to you for further refinement. The questions which follow
might assist you in your process of revision:
1. In your opening paragraph you use the phrase "the Laws of Nature and
Nature's God." What are these laws? In what way are they the criteria on
which you base your central arguments? Please document with citations from the
recent literature.
2. In the same paragraph you refer to the "opinions of mankind."Whose
polling data are you using? Without specific evidence, it seemsto us the "opinions
of mankind" are a matter of opinion.
3. You hold certain truths to be "self-evident." Could you please
elaborate. If they are as evident as you claim then it should not be difficult
for you to locate the appropriate supporting statistics.
4. "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" seem to be the goals
of your proposal. These are not measurable goals. If you were to say that "among
these is the ability to sustain an average life expectancy in six of the 13
colonies of at last 55 years, and to enable newspapers in the colonies to print
news without outside interference, and to raise the average income of the colonists
by 10 percent in the next 10 years," these could be measurable goals. Please
clarify.
5. You state that "Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and
to institute a new Government...." Have you weighed this assertion against
all the alternatives? What are the trade-off considerations?
6. Your description of the existing situation is quite extensive. Such a long
list of grievances should precede the statement of goals, not follow it. Your
problem statement needs improvement.
7. Your strategy for achieving your goal is not developed at all. You state
that the colonies "ought to be Free and Independent States,"and that
they are "Absolved from All Allegiance to the British Crown."Who or
what must change to achieve this objective? In what way must they change? What
specific steps will you take to overcome the resistance? How long will it take?
We have found that a little foresight in these areas helps to prevent careless
errors later on. How cost-effective are your strategies?
8. Who among the list of signatories will be responsible for implementing your
strategy? Who conceived it? Who provided the theoretical research? Who will
constitute the advisory committee? Please submit an organization chart and curricula
vita of the principal investigators.
9. You must include an evaluation design. We have been requiring this since
Queen Anne's War.
10. What impact will your problem have? Your failure to include any assessment
of this inspires little confidence in the long-range prospects of your undertaking.
11. Please submit a PERT diagram, an activity chart, itemized budget, and manpower
utilization matrix.
We hope that these comments prove useful in revising your "Declaration
of Independence." We welcome the submission of your revised proposal. Our
due date for unsolicited proposals is July 31, 1776. Twenty copies with original
signatures will be required.
Sincerely,
Management Analyst to the British Crown
research@meduohio.edu