The Declaration That Made & Remakes America

Letter to Romans: In the USA’s 250^th birthday, it’s no stretch to say the “life, liberty & pursuit of happiness” creed set forth in our Declaration of Independence was God’s own clarion call to CHANGE THE WORLD. Like Creation, it’s final chapter has yet to be written…

Victor Davis Hanson recently opined, “It’s a miracle the Declaration survived 250 years. It was rolled through battlefields during the Revolutionary War, nearly destroyed when the British burned Washington in 1914, and spent decades being moved from city to city before becoming America’s most treasured national document.” Hanson went on to “explore not only the remarkable survival story of the Declaration itself, but the ongoing battle over what it actually means …” Put in one historical context, the entire human race had piled up a mountain of sins long before America piled up its own share. While the Jamestown colonists started importing black slaves circa 1620, white slaves earlier, many Native American tribes practiced human bondage earlier still; the rest of the world’s slave scorecard has been as bad or worse …

When Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration, most of the world abhorred its belief in fundamental human rights that included “equality” and “self-government.” While Lafayette’s subsequent Rights of Man in 1789 furthered the concept, it’s obviously been an ongoing slog since. Yet perhaps THAT was the greatest miracle embedded in the Declaration. Like the aftermath of Jesus’ life on earth, America’s stated mission was set up to be a never-ending effort to make the world an ever-better place to live in, always imperfect, but always striving to be perfect, as our Father in Heaven is perfect.

Davd Soul