As Highlander 31 has pointed out, there are great similarities between the Declaration of Arbraoth and the American Declaration of Independence. This is not only a philosophical similarity, but one that runs much deeper, with some passages using almost identical language to express common demands, beliefs, and asperations.

That said, as a document expressing the concept of an independent state or nation, the Declaration of Arbroath is very important as it challenges the then accepted idea of feudal rights, based solely on conquest, and replaces them with the prototype idea of rule by consent of the governed. This document, as much as any other, is probably one of the foundations of the modern concept of a state governed by some form of democratic action. That being the case, the Declaration of Arbroath is very important in terms of Scottish, as well as later global history.