Only the One who grants rights has the authority to take them away.Īlthough the founders believed in the unalienable rights of every person, they also understood that there will always be forces in this world that seek to oppress. This is because they are granted not by any man or institution but rather they are “endowed” upon individuals by their Creator. Moreover, the equal rights shared by all humans are “unalienable.” They cannot be taken away. Included in these universal truths is the idea, “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.” This bold assertion insists that no one life is more valuable than the next, and that-by virtue of sharing the same rights-no individual has the authority to rule over or oppress another. The Declaration begins, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” By referring to the aspects of the subsequent statement as “self-evident truths,” the founders insist that they do not merely apply to colonists but rather that they are universal. The arrangement of this statement reveals the founders’ belief that individual rights pre-exist the establishment of a government– a radical notion at the time.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government … 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. And while much has changed since the signers met in secret to dissolve the bands that tied them to England, their words are as true today as they have ever been. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.This past weekend marked the 234th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. “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.
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