Mike Parker: Fourth of July show we need to return to the basics
Thomas Jefferson. Photo supplied by Mike Parker.
July 4th is the day we celebrate the birth of our nation. In 1776, Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies had a population of around 3 million people. These colonies had no army – just militias composed of citizen-soldiers. They were facing one of the world’s best-trained and most professional armies.
Patrick Henry put the situation in perspective. For more than 10 years, Henry said, “We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.”
I doubt most citizens today realize that these words came from the same speech in which Patrick Henry said: “Give me liberty or give me death.” His “liberty or death” stance came after 10 years of trying to negotiate with the King and Parliament.
Despite Henry and others like him, we would be wrong to assume most colonists were ready to go to war for liberty. Roughly one-third of the colonists wanted independence, and another third wanted to remain British subjects. The last third did not care one way or the other. Fifty-six men, whom we call patriots today, signed a treasonous document declaring that these 13 colonies “are and of right ought to be free and independent States.”
When I teach American literature at any level, I always have my students read the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration has three distinct parts: the Preamble, the List of Grievances, and the formal Declaration of Independence. The Preamble of this document contains perhaps the most critical principles forming the political fabric of this nation.
Jefferson presented these principles in a series of equally weighed clauses that follow the pronouncement: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”
What are those truths that need no justification because they are self-evident?
“That all men are created equal.”
“That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”
“That among these [rights] are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
“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 to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to 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.”
These five principles are the bedrock of our nation. The first principle is that all people are created equal. Each citizen has the right to stand equally before the law and the government. The Declaration is not guaranteeing equality of condition or situation. The guarantee is everyone should stand equal in the eyes of the law, just as we stand equal before the judgment of God.
The second principle is most important: Our rights do not come from the government. Our rights come from the Creator. Throughout most of human history, the rights of citizens depended on what governments decided those rights should be. The bedrock principle of this Republic is that our rights come from God and are not granted by human beings.
Three of those most basic rights are listed in the third clause: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Our Creator has given us Life. Our Creator has given us Liberty. One of our most fundamental liberties is the freedom to pursue what we think will bring us Happiness.
The fourth clause contends that government has a sacred trust: Government exists to protect our rights. As the guardian, not grantor, of our rights, the government is our servant. The government does not exist to regulate our lives, but it exists so each of us may live our lives, enjoy our liberty, and pursue what we believe will make us happy.
I am sure many modern politicians would love to overlook the fifth clause in these statements of principles: “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government. …”
We sometimes can alter our government through elections. We can change our government through amendments and recalls, and lawsuits.
However, remember that Thomas Jefferson and the other 55 signers also realized that sometimes rebellion against tyranny is a necessary weapon in the arsenal of the people.
In the end, we do not answer to the government. Instead, the government – if legitimate – answers to us.
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
