While it’s questionable how many younger Americans have been exposed to the Declaration of Independence, signed 250 years ago, on July 4, 1776, most Americans probably know the famous preface:
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The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.-
What fewer people know is that the remainder of the document rests on core principles about the human condition, man’s relationship to God, and government and man’s relationship to each other.
My studies of the Declaration of Independence have allowed me to distill 25 of the principles that undergird our nation. Thus, the Declaration of Independence declares:
1. There is a higher law to appeal to—The Laws of Nature and Nature’s God
2. There is a higher Power to appeal to—Nature’s God
3. There is a universal truth
4. These truths are self-evident
5. Truth 1: Man is valuable because God created him
6. Truth 2: All men are equal in their standing before God
7. Truth 3: God endows man with rights
8. Truth 4: Rights do not come from government
9. Truth 5: Because the rights come from God, the government cannot revoke them
10. Truth 6: The primary rights are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness [a happiness understood to flow from virtue, not transient pleasures of the flesh]
11. The purpose of government is to secure these rights
12. The government’s authority comes from God—“just” powers—and from the people [the people give consent to be governed]
13. The government is accountable to God and the people
14. A government is illegitimate when it becomes destructive to these ends [truths]
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15. The people have the right to alter or abolish the government
16. Change should not be made for trivial reasons
17. When the government usurps the people’s rights over a long period of time, that fact demands change.
18. Tyranny is the steady quest to have greater and greater power over people
19. It is the people’s duty to act for future generations
20. God is the Supreme Judge
21. God is the one who knows men’s hearts and can judge their motives and actions.
22. God holds people and rulers accountable
23. God will be relied on for protection
24. The Founders would commit their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to these principles [words]
25. And, by signing the Declaration, they did, in fact, commit their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor [deeds]
No other form of government has ever been founded on these principles. And that is why America remains the most free and dynamic country in the world today.
Public domain image by John Trumball.
Craig Seibert is the director of www.UnitedStates250.org, www.DeclarationOfIndependence250.org, and www.ChristianCivicsTraining.org, where you will find an abundance of free resources, as well as two recent books God’s Providence in the Affairs of Men and Nations and Documents of Freedom: The American Way of Life and Liberty. Craig serves as a Coach Mentor for www.PatriotAcademy.com, and www.ServeGodDefendLiberty.com. Learn more about free Patriot Academy Courses at Rebuilding Liberty Here.
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