We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration of Independence
Tomorrow marks the 241st anniversary of Independence Day, the day American colonials not only declared their separation from Great Britain, but also the day when the world’s greatest political experiment—the American republic—had its raw beginnings.
That one line of the Declaration was radical in its own time. If we believe those words, if we live them, that same line remains just as radical today. Let’s look at it a minute.
The Declaration of Independence
Tomorrow marks the 241st anniversary of Independence Day, the day American colonials not only declared their separation from Great Britain, but also the day when the world’s greatest political experiment—the American republic—had its raw beginnings.
That one line of the Declaration was radical in its own time. If we believe those words, if we live them, that same line remains just as radical today. Let’s look at it a minute.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: No kings, no masters, no college professors, no clergyman needed. The truths proclaimed by Jefferson and others were, as one of my math books often described certain proofs, “evident even to the casual observer.” Ordinary men and women knew these truths to be valid and just. They are truths, and they are self-evident.
That all men are created equal: All men and women are created equal in the eyes of the law. The Founders were not saying we are equal in ability, but that in the eyes of the law and of God the blacksmith is the equal of the king. Both fall within the scope of that law. Both have rights. Through most of humankind’s history, the idea of such equality was never a consideration.
That they are endowed by their Creator: Neither Billy Graham nor the Pope added these words to the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson, probably a Deist, wrote them. Whether believing in Deism’s watchmaker, Christianity’s Triune God, or the God of Abraham and Moses, the people of Jefferson’s era gave God a place in the public square. Obedient to the times, most of our post-modern politicians and public figures keep God in a back yard marked “No Trespassing.” Too bad for us, because stripped of that Creator and that endowment, the idea of inalienable rights loses all meaning. And without those inalienable rights, our republic has no foundation.
With certain unalienable rights: These are rights that cannot be denied or taken away. In other words, these are rights that come with the human package as much as a set or lungs or a pair of eyes. Today we hear our fellow citizens constantly demanding “rights”: a right to free medical care, a right to food stamps, a right to work, and so on. These are debatable rights, requiring legislation and courts. The writers and signers of the Declaration were recognizing core rights, rights central to what it means to be human: trial by a jury of our peers, the right to vote, the right to certain freedoms, and the right to be governed by just laws.
That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness: The unalienable right to life seems for the last fifty years to have hit the skids. Our country promotes abortion and seems more and more to condone euthanasia. Since 2001, the number of people murdered by gangs and criminals in Chicago exceeds the number of US dead in Afghanistan and Iraq during the same time period. Liberty, sadly, is little understood by most of our citizens. We falsely equate it with democracy, unaware that many political philosophers, from the ancient Greeks to the Founding Fathers, feared the tyranny of the people as much as the tyranny of a dictator. Jefferson, Adams, and the others founded a republic, not a democracy. Finally, the pursuit of happiness in the 18th century meant the pursuit of our individual interests, not happiness as people think of the word today. Happiness for them was connected to liberty and the freedom to seek out one’s destiny. Happiness in our time too often brings to mind a vacation in the Keys or a smiley face.
Today is Independence Day. It marks the celebration of our Declaration of Independence and the first step toward liberty and a remarkable Constitution. Sometimes we forget that the men who signed this piece of paper, had they lost their gamble in the war for liberty, were signing their death warrants. Sometimes we forget why for nearly 250 years people from around the world, often at the risk of death, have fought to reach our shores. Sometimes we forget what America was, and is, and what it is meant to be, what others have called the last best hope of man on earth.
Today is our day to remember.
That all men are created equal: All men and women are created equal in the eyes of the law. The Founders were not saying we are equal in ability, but that in the eyes of the law and of God the blacksmith is the equal of the king. Both fall within the scope of that law. Both have rights. Through most of humankind’s history, the idea of such equality was never a consideration.
That they are endowed by their Creator: Neither Billy Graham nor the Pope added these words to the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson, probably a Deist, wrote them. Whether believing in Deism’s watchmaker, Christianity’s Triune God, or the God of Abraham and Moses, the people of Jefferson’s era gave God a place in the public square. Obedient to the times, most of our post-modern politicians and public figures keep God in a back yard marked “No Trespassing.” Too bad for us, because stripped of that Creator and that endowment, the idea of inalienable rights loses all meaning. And without those inalienable rights, our republic has no foundation.
With certain unalienable rights: These are rights that cannot be denied or taken away. In other words, these are rights that come with the human package as much as a set or lungs or a pair of eyes. Today we hear our fellow citizens constantly demanding “rights”: a right to free medical care, a right to food stamps, a right to work, and so on. These are debatable rights, requiring legislation and courts. The writers and signers of the Declaration were recognizing core rights, rights central to what it means to be human: trial by a jury of our peers, the right to vote, the right to certain freedoms, and the right to be governed by just laws.
That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness: The unalienable right to life seems for the last fifty years to have hit the skids. Our country promotes abortion and seems more and more to condone euthanasia. Since 2001, the number of people murdered by gangs and criminals in Chicago exceeds the number of US dead in Afghanistan and Iraq during the same time period. Liberty, sadly, is little understood by most of our citizens. We falsely equate it with democracy, unaware that many political philosophers, from the ancient Greeks to the Founding Fathers, feared the tyranny of the people as much as the tyranny of a dictator. Jefferson, Adams, and the others founded a republic, not a democracy. Finally, the pursuit of happiness in the 18th century meant the pursuit of our individual interests, not happiness as people think of the word today. Happiness for them was connected to liberty and the freedom to seek out one’s destiny. Happiness in our time too often brings to mind a vacation in the Keys or a smiley face.
Today is Independence Day. It marks the celebration of our Declaration of Independence and the first step toward liberty and a remarkable Constitution. Sometimes we forget that the men who signed this piece of paper, had they lost their gamble in the war for liberty, were signing their death warrants. Sometimes we forget why for nearly 250 years people from around the world, often at the risk of death, have fought to reach our shores. Sometimes we forget what America was, and is, and what it is meant to be, what others have called the last best hope of man on earth.
Today is our day to remember.