{"id":28725,"date":"2017-07-06T05:30:08","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T09:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=28725"},"modified":"2017-07-04T15:33:05","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T19:33:05","slug":"why-the-second-paragraph-in-the-declaration-of-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/07\/why-the-second-paragraph-in-the-declaration-of-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the second paragraph in the Declaration of Independence?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"16_abraham_lincoln[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The purpose of the Declaration of Independence was for the American colonies to formally break away from Great Britain and to form a separate country.<\/p>\n

As Abraham Lincoln observed, this could have been done without all of that material in the second paragraph about\u00a0God, equality, and unalienable rights:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nSo why did the Founders include this? \u00a0Especially since many of them, including the author of these words, were slave holders who did not act on the principle that \u201call men are created equal\u201d and hold God-given rights, including that of liberty.\n

Lincoln gives a remarkably good answer to this question, as discussed by columnist Michael Gerson.<\/p>\n

From Michael Gerson,\u00a0America isn\u2019t a normal country \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

As Abraham Lincoln noted, the Declaration could have established national independence without its second paragraph about the human rights to \u201clife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.\u201d \u201cThe assertion that \u2018all men are created equal,\u2019 \u201d Lincoln\u00a0argued<\/a>, \u201cwas of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain.\u201d As he saw it, the Founders, while constrained by the political realities of their time, set out a non-arbitrary, timeless truth \u201cfor future use.\u201d