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. (Preamble to the Declaration of Independence)
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed by the members of the Continental Congress. The document was drafted by John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingstone of New York, and Roger Sherman of New York. It draws heavily from the political philosophy of British philosopher John Locke while also succinctly expressing the principles shared by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
John Locke (AD 1632-1704) was raised in a Puritan family and educated at Oxford University. He was a tutor, a medical doctor, and both an advisor and political diplomat. He also wrote on such diverse topics as economics, epistemology, politics, and theology.
Locke wrote from the philosophical tradition of natural law as known by natural reason. He states, “Reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that, being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”
Locke underscores the notion that each person has intrinsic value because he or she has been created in the image of God. Therefore, natural rights are neither given by man nor the state. Our natural rights are unalienable because they are given directly to us by God our Creator.
Together with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence is the first of three documents known collectively as the Charters of Freedom. These three documents have secured the rights of the American people for more than two and a quarter centuries. Furthermore, these documents are instrumental to the founding philosophy of the United States.
On July 4, 2026, the Declaration of Independence will have helped secure the rights of the American people for two and a half centuries. Freedom 250 is a reminder that 1) each person has intrinsic value because he or she has been created in the image of God, 2) natural rights are neither given by man nor the state, and 3) natural rights are unalienable because they are given directly to us by God our Creator.
~Boethius~