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Article: We declare. (Declaration of Independence)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- July 26, 1985
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1985 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE is the reason we still celebrate the Fourth of July, but it isn't quoted very often these days. Although its author, Thomas Jefferson, was an eighteenth-century liberal, it wasn't exactly what twentieth-century liberalism had in mind. In fact it is mildly surprising that the Supreme Court hasn't forbidden its use in public schools.
The Declaration makes references to the "Creator," "Nature's God," and "divine Providence." It affirms that God is the source of our "unalienable rights." It even includes the right to life.
Among its charges against King George is that "he has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent ...