How would you interpret these words from the Declaration of Independence?

Question

I believe that the following words represent the mission statement of the United States of America. I believe that I know what they mean. I want to know what other people think the Founding Fathers were trying to tell us. Here they are:

"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."

Answer 1

Three main chunks. One. People exist and have certain rights that can (or should) never be taken away. The bit about "endowed by their Creator" is often interpreted as a reference to God, but that doesn't make this a country founded on religious principles. Notice that (unlike the Preamble to the Constitution), the only universal rights are Life and Liberty, and the ability to seek what you want to make you happy.

Chunk two. People chose to live in society and have a government. The government has certain powers, granted to it by the people. Only through the consent (or apathy) of the people can government enforce its powers over us.

Chunk three. BTW, we really meant that bit about the "consent of the governed". We reserve the right to fire government if they start getting stupid. England, in case you missed the reference, you're getting stupid. Stop it.

Most of the state constitutions from the original colonies had similar provisions. For example, here's what New Hampshire's constitution originally said:

1. All men are born equally free and independent; therefore, all government of right originates from the people, is founded in consent, and instituted for the general good.

2. All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights - among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting, property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness.

3. When men enter into a state of society, they surrender up some of their natural rights to that society, in order to ensure the protection of others; and, without such an equivalent, the surrender is void.

4. Among the natural rights, some are, in their very nature unalienable, because no equivalent can be given or received for them. Of this kind are the Rights of Conscience.

Essentially, what both documents were saying is that people only have to put up with government as long as the governments serves them. Once government starts being stupid, and tries to enact laws which infringe on Life, Liberty and Happiness, then the people have every right to take whatever action is necessary to correct the bad management problem.

Somewhere along the way, we've forgotten that. We've forgotten that the government does not control us -- we consent to being controlled by the government.

Answer 2

This paragraph of the Declaration of Independence is a direct paraphrase of the liberal Democratic philosophies of John Locke (life, liberty, property, etc.) from his Second Treatise on Government. Thomas Jefferson derived his full understanding of the relationship between the government and the people from Locke, and to a lessor extent, Hobbes. The crux of this statement is that government exists by "the consent of the governed," it's purpose is to create a social contract by which individuals willingly submit some of their liberty to larger society in exchange for security.

The Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution), establishes just what liberties are reserved by the people.

Answer 3

Lets break it down: "all men are created equal": well if you have ever watched an interracial porn with a black dude, you know this not to be true, black dudes are hung Asian guys are short and well un-hung...uh.... anti-hung... uh... whatever the opposite of hung is. OK well I think we already covered their endowments.. The rest is just crap because we live with the government we have and any attempt to alter or abolish it is met with cries of treason and anti-patriotism. Maybe that is what we need in this country a coup. Damn the man.. Save the Empire.

Answer 4

i think it means we are all created equal by God but, because people do bad things the govt was created to protect people's rights and therefore the people have the power to overthrow the govt if the govt threatens their safety, and establish a new one.

Answer 5

Amen