One area in which I find myself in increasing disagreement with Founding Father and Declaration author Thomas Jefferson is his bit about having "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind". It obviously grants excessive weight to what foreigners think. Fact is, some cultures are more equal than others, and current times call for focusing on what is right, not on what those who don't get America think.
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
It's just a partial reacp of Vattel's Law of Nations (§ 266. 4th general maxim: what is sufficiently declared, is to be taken for true) as well as the basis for the Constitution's 10 Amendment.
A 'declaration' should be publicly made so no one is left to guess at their intentions of motivations. It's analogous to us saying 'the people at large'.