The Declaration Of Independence: Words Which Matter

These Truths Are Still Self-Evident

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.

For some years now, part of my personal celebration of the Fourth of July holiday has been these little essays on the Declaration of Independence. Few documents are as rich in history, in symbolism, and in significance as this brief text authored by the Second Continental Congress two hundred and forty-nine years ago.

Yet from time to time we do well to step back and look not at the history, not at the moment, not even at the politics, but just at the words. The Declaration of Independence is, at its foundation, words—important words, eloquent words, words which convey powerful and timeless truths, but still words.

The Declaration of Independence is definitely on the short list of “words that matter”!

I am reminded of a pithy observation the late great Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made about the Constitution:

"The Constitution is not a living organism," he said. "It's a legal document, and it says what it says and doesn't say what it doesn't say."

While the Declaration is a political rather than a legal document, the same rule applies: it says what it says and it doesn’t say what it doesn’t say.

What the Declaration of Independence says is that all men are created equal—all men. It does not say “some men”, nor does it say “white men.” It does not even say “men and not women”.

The Declaration of Independence says “all men are created equal.”

That simple declaration of political and moral principle are the words upon which the whole of the Declaration is built. These simple words form a profound truth that is as self-evident today as it was in 1776. These simple words are why the words within the Declaration of Independence matter more than two centuries after their writing.

These words mattered in particular to men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who was struck by their unbridled optimism—optimism to which he paid specific tribute in a 1964 speech at Drew University¹:

I would like to use as a subject from which to speak tonight, the American Dream. And I use this subject because America is essentially a dream, a dream yet unfulfilled. The substance of the dream is expressed in some very familiar words found in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This is a dream.

Now one of the first things we notice about this dream is an amazing universalism. It does not say some men, it says all men. It does not say all white men, but it says all men which includes black men. It doesn’t say all Protestants, but it says all men which includes Catholics. It doesn’t say all Gentiles, it says all men which includes Jews. And that is something else at the center of the American Dream which is one of the distinguishing points, one of the things that distinguishes it from other forms of government, particularly totalitarian systems. It says that each individual has certain basic rights that are neither derived from nor conferred by the state.

They are gifts from the hands of the Almighty God. Very seldom if ever in the history of the world has a socio-political document expressed in such profound eloquent and unequivocal language the dignity and the worth of human personality.

Dr. King read the words, saw the words, and was awed by those words—and I would say rightfully so.

The remainder of Dr. King’s speech—a speech specifically about the “American Dream”—was a challenge. Dr. King challenged his audience, and all people, to rise to the promise and potential of the words within the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration proclaims that all men are created equal. Despite the historical reality of Thomas Jefferson as a slave owner, and the truth that many of the Founding Fathers were quite invested in the institution of slavery, the Declaration remains the words upon which the entire experiment we call the United States of America is based. Regardless of Thomas Jefferson the man, Thomas Jefferson the writer laid for the cornerstone of this Republic the premise that all men are created equal.

Our challenge today is the same as the challenge in 1776, and the challenge in 1964: to build and perfect a society where these words are not just merely a celebrated truth, but a deeply held and profoundly lived truth.

Nor is this a new challenge. We must remember the teachings of Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke, that every man has fundamental worth given by God²

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

We must remember as well how the Apostle Paul built on this teaching in Galatians, reminding the early Christians that all men everywhere are the blessed children of God³.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Regardless of anyone’s particular faith, these words are every bit as real as the words within the Declaration of Independence which echo them. That these teachings from two millennia ago find their parallel within a political proclamation from two centuries ago demonstrates that these truths are indeed “self-evident”.

These words were sufficiently “self-evident” to President John F. Kennedy that he observed in his 1961 inaugural address how the challenge of equality was a global challenge in the 1960s, just as it is today⁴.

And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

That all men are indeed created equal was at the core of Kennedy’s plea for peace in his commencement address at American University in 1963⁵:

So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

President Kennedy espoused the ideal that a free and just society begins with the premise that all men are created equal, and dared to propose that equality is the pathway to universal and lasting peace.

I, for one, want very much to believe that President Kennedy was right on both counts.

Remarkably, President Kennedy, like Dr. King and even the Apostle Paul, was far from a perfect being.

The Apostle Paul was a flawed man who began his career as a persecutor of the early Christians.

For all that he is rightfully celebrated today, Dr. King was a flawed man, whose personal life was far from spotless.

President Kennedy was likewise a flawed man, whose extramarital affairs at times bordered on the reckless.

Yet each of these men, despite their flaws and imperfections, could see the same self-evident truth that Thomas Jefferson wrote down in 1776, despite his flaws and imperfections. In their time and in their own words, each of these men reached the same conclusion as Jefferson.

What these men, despite their flaws, understood was that the truths Jefferson celebrated in the Declaration of Independence were self-evident because they were true. No matter how flawed Jefferson the man was, the words he wrote were true.

All men are created equal.

All men are endowed by God with inalienable rights.

Among the rights given by God are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

These truths were self evident when Jesus walked the earth. These truths were self-evident to the Apostle Paul after his profound transformation on the road to Damascus. These truths were self-evident to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and to President John F. Kennedy.

These truths are self-evident today.

Today we celebrate these truths. Today we celebrate the words with which Thomas Jefferson so brilliantly encapsulated these self-evident truths. Today we celebrate that these words challenge us as much today as they have every day for the last 249 years.

Celebrate these truths. Celebrate these words. Rise to the challenge.

1. Dr. King, Jr., M. L. The American Dream. 5 Feb. 1964, https://depts.drew.edu/lib/archives/online_exhibits/king/speech/theamericandream.pdf.

2. Luke 12:6-7

3. Galatians 3:28

4. Kennedy, J. F. President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address (1961). 20 Jan. 1961, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-john-f-kennedys-inaugural-address.

5. Kennedy, J. F. Commencement Address at American University. 10 June 1963, https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610.