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. –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, 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. 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. 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.
Can you even imagine revolting against your government today? Or are we in an era of Prudence, with evils sufferable?
Isn’t that what originally justified the right to have guns? I guess nowadays there should be a National F-16 Association instead of the NRA.
What an inspiring document is the Declaration, written eloquently in somber and philosophical reflection amidst the kind of historical upheavel more typified by ruinous heedlessness.
That preamble is timeless. Not so much the part about the “merciless Indian Savages”.
That’s a real historical document? I should learn my history better. I can indeed imagine revolting, and think of a few evils which are less than sufferable. All I can really do on my own is disregard unjust laws, while trying to remain free of jail. If I knew a group orf likeminded revolutionaries, I might just join them. Safety in numbers.
… and by pure coincidence I am reading the chapter in Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” which mentions the Espionage Act of 1917. Apparently it’s still in effect, and was used to send people to jail for criticizing the (First World) war or speaking out against the draft.
Also I meant to blog about my 4th of July experience 2 years ago which involved being threatened with arrest, and one in our party being violently thrown against a wall and arrested. Our crime was handing out (or reading aloud, since we weren’t allowed to hand out) copies of the Bill of Rights (and quotes from the Founding Fathers)… on the fourth of July… in Boston, the “home of independence.”
“Assent, and you are sane
Demure, you’re straightway dangerous
And handled with a chain” – Emily Dickinson