"Self-evident" then and now
On America's 250th birthday, let's reaffirm a fundamental assertion of the Declaration of Independence
I’m rejoicing that our American republic is about to mark 250 years of independence. Rocky times, a civil war, politicians whose electoral success defies all reason: the USA has survived it all.
Perhaps the Fourth of July touches me deeply because I’m an immigrant’s daughter. I’m grateful to the grandfather I never knew, who crossed over once upon a time with wife and babies to become something other than a day laborer in Quebec.
The Declaration of Independence is getting a lot of love this week. I’m particularly moved by a video from the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, with notable Granite Staters irrespective of party taking turns reciting each clause of the Declaration.
We hold these truths
I’m always brought up short when I hear the Declaration’s most famous lines. I wonder if we can hear ourselves, listen to ourselves, when we say and hear and read these words, which are a preamble to all that follows:
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.
“Life” comes first in that list of rights. It’s fundamental. It’s recognized, not granted. Do we really believe what we’re saying? Is the right to life self-evident anymore? Was it ever so?
Remember that the Declaration was a committee effort. Thomas Jefferson was the principal drafter, but he was first among equals with four other men. The full Continental Congress then edited the draft before voting on it. The list of those three self-evident rights survived all the debates.
The words were chosen and affirmed deliberately. Truths, not opinions. Unalienable, not negotiable. Self-evident, meaning taken for granted, with no need to prove the point.
Today, 250 years later, I live where the direct intentional termination of human life by means of induced abortion is protected in statute. In some states, where the word “privacy” is torqued out of shape, it’s protected in constitutions as well.
The right to life is not, to put it mildly, “self-evident” to some of my neighbors in positions of power. Human beings, including the Framers and me, often fall short of living out the truths recognized in the Declaration.
That’s no reason to abandon them. We’ll keep striving.
Pray and work, as the Benedictine tradition advises. Live as though we really do hold those truths cited in the Declaration to be self-evident, knowing that life is a gift from God.
With all my heart, I wish you a Happy Independence Day!
Bookworm alert: Have you read books about U.S. history that have stuck with you? Which ones would you recommend? With #America250 in mind, I recall some of my favorites. Maybe you’d like to add a few of these to your to-be-read pile.