IN CASE OF FRACTURE, BREAK OUT THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Has there ever been a time when America was more divided?  Where do we turn to put the glue back on a fractured American body politic?  There was a man in such a time.  He broke out the Declaration of Independence.  It held the glue that saved the nation.

America was headed toward a civil war.  Abraham Lincoln knew it.  He understood the meaning of Jesus’ words that, “a house divided cannot stand”.  In 1858, Lincoln unsuccessfully ran to Illinois United States senator.  In the midst of that campaign he explained to a divided nation why the Declaration said had meaning in the political crisis of slavery.  Unfortunately the issue of race still plagued America today and is exploited through the shameless use of identity politics.  Lincoln argued against the position of white supremacists.  Lincoln focused on the humanity of the slaves and that the Declaration of Independence applied to them because they were created in God’s image. 

Lincoln explained that the Declaration of Independence was a “beacon” to all mankind and its posterity.  “Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded.”

Lincoln told his listeners that the Founding Fathers of America saw into the future, knowing “the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants.”  Therefore, the Founders foresaw “when in the distant future…some faction…should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men were entitled to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”. The people would look to the Declaration as the standard to defeat those horrible ideologies.  The mission of the Declaration was to preserve “truth, justice and Christian virtues.”  Toward the very end of the Civil War changed in his thinking about the African American slaves.  He rejected white supremacy.  In Lincoln’s last speak, he advocated that the black soldiers who had fought for the Union be given the right to vote.  This was truly a progressive civil rights position at the time.  The speech alarmed white supremacist John Wilkes Booth, he resolved to kill Lincoln.

In the midst of the racial upheaval we are presently experiencing we should do as Lincoln recommended and consider the mission of America as expressed in the Declaration.  When it says “all men are created equal” all people should be viewed equally before the law.  Black lives matter, but does everyone else’s lives including the unborn.

The Declaration says there is a God.  He is the author of dignity and rights of men.  Government cannot take away these rights.  Included among the God given rights are Life, Liberty and pursuant of Happiness.  It is governments duty to secure the “safety and happiness” of its citizens.

Lincoln knew the key to nation healing was reconciliation.  In a war where the Union lost 360,222 in order to liberate slaves, Lincoln rebelled that the approach to reconciling with the rebels of the South was to have “malice toward none and charity for all.”

These are laudable ideals.  However, in 2019 the New York Times instigated and promoted a junk history called the “1619 Project”.  It asserts that the United States was actually created in 1619 and the American Revolution was designed for the sole goal of protecting the institution of slavery.  The words of the Declaration in and of themselves reject slavery.  When Lincoln in 1861 was willing to go to war and ultimately abolish slavery, the main basis for his reasoning came from the Declaration.  Those seeking racial justice today should embrace the Declaration.  It has been the glue that has held America together from day one.