What is better than Freedom? There is not much one could do without it, and yet we don’t really ever think hard about it. I believe this is because we did not earn, paid, or fought for it. Instead many other man and women who did not have freedom did. Our founding father understood the importance of freedom, as they considered it an inalienable right. Which is define by dictionary.com as”a right according to natural law, a right that cannot be taken away, denied, or transferred.” Our founding father believed freedom was given to all human, and that it should not be taken away by anyone as it was given to us my nature, or my our creator. That is why the declaration of independence was created, and the topic I want to discuss this 4th of July weekend.
It is not a history lesson, but a leadership one. Our founding father were intellectual, and courages leaders who understood the significance of their actions for centuries to come. It is their leadership that I want to discuss, as I believe the Path-Goal theory could be correlated to such grand commemoration.”Path-Goal theory is about leaders motivating followers to accomplish a designated goal,” (Northouse, 2016). This leadership style was useful during the creation of the declaration of independence, but most importantly need following the signing.
56 men from the 13 colonies came together and signed the declaration of independence, but declaring independence is not enough unless they are able to win the war. Thus, our nation’s leaders had motivate, and inspire men and women from around our country to fight for the vision the our founding fathers created. To do so our founding fathers defined the goals for our country, by stating freedom and the pursuit of happiness for everyone in this country. The declaration of independence also assisted as a path for freedom from Great Britain and its king, as declaration of freedom had not been officially recorded since the war first shots 442 days in Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The declaration of independence provide our country with a path for the future, in which freedom and no taxation without government representation would exist. The declaration did not remove obstacle, as the American Revolution had already started, but by over throwing the Britain’s Army America was able to move forward with our Constitution. Which would provide support for our new free America to build itself on.
It is important to note, that leadership behavior varied during the American Revolution, and during the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Our founding fathers had to provide directive, supportive, participants, and achievement-oriented leadership as the complexity of war, and building a new free country demanded various leadership styles. “Followers find the behavior of a leader an immediate source of satisfaction or instrumental to some future satisfaction,” (Northouse, 2016). Thus our country was able to find strength in our leaders vision, and credibility in their decisions. Task characteristic may be more broad to examine as a new legal system and government was created because of the decision of our founding fathers. Today the declaration of independence stands as a symbol of courage and inherit justice for all.
As I get ready to celebrate another year of freedom in this great nation, I reflect on the leadership approach our founding fathers took to create, and sign into effect the declaration of independence. The path-goal theory provides a good fundamental basis for their leadership approach. As they needed various leadership behaviors to motivate the followers to win the American revolution, and establish a free America. Our founding father’s leadership approach is another great way to remember or great nation, and our rich history, may it ever reign.