{"id":696,"date":"2026-06-03T20:10:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=696"},"modified":"2026-06-03T20:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:10:48","slug":"the-declarations-twin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=696","title":{"rendered":"The Declaration\u2019s twin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Seventeen seventy-six was a year like no other. \u00a0We recognize it, and very rightly celebrate it, as the birth year of America, the nation conceived in liberty.<\/p>

Read more An Islamist ran for political office in New Jersey\u2026and won<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the best known passage from America\u2019s birth certificate:<\/p>\n

\n

We\u00a0hold\u00a0these\u00a0truths\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among\u00a0these\u00a0are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

These words, fulfilled in America\u2019s astonishing success, upended politics everywhere, spelling the end of a world ruled by monarchs \u2014 tsars, emperors, kings \u2014 and their hangers-on. \u00a0It also spelled the end of slavery, until then, like rule by monarchs, accepted virtually everywhere as simply normal.<\/p>\n

Seventeen seventy-six also marked the beginning of an era of astonishing innovation and prosperity. \u00a0America took the lead and showed the way in this transformation, too. \u00a0Ordinary people the world over today enjoy conveniences and luxuries \u2014 cell phones and automobiles, air travel and television \u2014 unknown to those tsars, emperors, and kings who once ruled over kingdoms that \u2014 barring widespread disaster \u2014 changed very little or not at all for ordinary people from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n

For a more complete understanding of the innovation and prosperity part of the story of 1776, we have to look to the Declaration\u2019s twin, born in that same year. \u00a0That fact was not a coincidence, because the twin was conceived in precisely the same deliberations as the ones that produced the Declaration.<\/p>\n

Adam Smith\u2019s Wealth of Nations<\/em> is the charter of what is known today as free market economics. \u00a0It introduced liberty into the world of economics in perfect complement to the Declaration\u2019s vision of liberty in the political world.<\/p>

Read more Vatican bigwig calls John Lennon\u2019s \u2018Imagine\u2019 the \u2018most beautiful song in the world\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cUnalienable rights\u201d is the idea that set the Declaration apart from all that had gone before \u2014 and led directly to The Wealth of Nations<\/em> also.<\/p>\n

You and I and the American Founders owe a Scottish philosopher named Francis Hutcheson for that America-defining idea of unalienable rights. \u00a0To be more precise, we owe him for making the distinction between alienable and unalienable rights. \u00a0It is actually not far-fetched to say Hutcheson\u2019s profound discussion of unalienable and alienable rights made both the Declaration and The Wealth of Nations<\/em> possible. \u00a0(\u201cAlienable\u201d simply means \u201ccapable of being transferred to the ownership<\/em> of another.\u201d) \u00a0For more on this fascinating subject, I recommend this brief article of mine.<\/p>\n

Hutcheson taught philosophy at the University of Glasgow from 1730 until his death in 1746. \u00a0He mentored Adam Smith, who succeeded him in the same prestigious professorship. \u00a0Their students, as if in perfect understanding that these ideas that were destined to transform the world needed to be established first in the New World, came to America on fire to share what they had learned. \u00a0They mentored and taught Jefferson and Madison and Hamilton. \u00a0The philosophy they brought to America \u2014 it is called Common Sense Realism \u2014 \u00a0became the philosophy of the Founders and of the nation that came to be called the common sense nation.<\/p>\n

For more on what America owes to Scotland\u2019s common sense philosophers in this our 250th year, I recommend my book Common Sense Nation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Robert Curry is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Common Sense Nation: Unlocking the Forgotten Power of the American Idea<\/strong> and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Reclaiming Common Sense: Finding Truth in a Post-Truth World<\/strong>. Both are published by\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Encounter Books<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>

Read more Paul Krugman wants to nuke red America from orbit<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"<p><em>Image:<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Image: Pashi via Pixabay, Pixabay License.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seventeen seventy-six was a year like no other. \u00a0We recognize it, and very rightly celebrate it, as the birth year of America, the nation conceived in liberty. Read more An Islamist ran for political office in New Jersey\u2026and won Here is the best known passage from America\u2019s birth certificate: We\u00a0hold\u00a0these\u00a0truths\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0self-evident, that all men are created […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282,2],"tags":[333],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-declaration-of-independence","category-politics","tag-related-topics-declaration-of-independence"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Declaration\u2019s twin - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=696\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Declaration\u2019s twin - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seventeen seventy-six was a year like no other. \u00a0We recognize it, and very rightly celebrate it, as the birth year of America, the nation conceived in liberty. 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