United States Declaration of Independence

First, that the Constitution rests on a sacred understanding of human dignity.

The Declaration of Independence, a statement that offers the Constitution its philosophical basis, highlights the creator-creation distinction, honoring humans as being sacred beings with God-given rights— At the same time, the Constitution acknowledges that man is also fallen and imperfect.

Thus, checks and balances are both practical and necessary.

As Madison wrote, quote, End quote.

Those principles were that happiness is the end of government, consent the means, and sovereignty of the people were the foundation.

You can see in those words both the Declaration of Independence, consent the means, sovereignty of the people, happiness the end of government.

You can see the Declaration there in those words.

But you also can see the document that emerges.

The founders of the United States of America reverenced the Bible because it reflected their awareness of God's authority over the nations.

Washington did not place his hand on the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States, as hallowed as those documents are.

Nor did he kiss the pages of any other religious or secular tome.

It was the Bible that sanctified the moment.

The, I mean, if you really want to get technical about it, in American political rhetoric, the third person is the device choice for communicating political ideas.

This has been true from the beginning of the Republic, you know, from the Declaration of Independence, right? We hold these truths to be self-evident.

The Constitution, we the people.

Gettysburg Address, you know, we here do highly resolve that these dead shall have died in vain.

So then he goes on to talk about, uh, the Greeks and the golden fleece was in reality, a parchment on which was written the secret of human immortality.

Um, he's saying we now have an America enshrined in the congressional library, a golden fleece, the American declaration of independence, that magic document written by great men and their, uh, Their magical, mystical constitution.

Not that it's a terrible thing, but it's not the answer to everything.

But he's saying the American Declaration of Independence written on the skin of an animal and preserved as the magic formula of human hope.

Now, that's not true.

The magic formula of human hope is the gospel and Jesus Christ and the church.

It's not the Declaration of Independence, even though it has served as a...

An okay form of government.

Really good place to go and celebrate the Constitution is Philadelphia.

If you go to Independence Mall area, you get to see where the original Declaration of Independence, of course, was signed and the Liberty Bell.

And then the Constitution Center is incredible.

And it's all right there in one place.

And men had to make decisions about what they would do, what they were willing to risk.

The Declaration famously says that the signers were risking their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.

Well, what does that mean? And we think about the Battle of Kings Mountain, which was a battle in which Americans were fighting Americans.

And in one sense, it wasn't a battle on the scale of a Gettysburg or an Omaha Beach or even a Yorktown.

Did winning this war then create a new political problem for the founders?

It did create a new political problem, but the founders were aware of it before they began fighting the war.

We could see a good example, and I'm going to quote from the Declaration of Independence.

This is a Hillsdale podcast, so that's appropriate.

You're going to hear from 17 teachers who were attending the Civics for Colorado Summer Institute.

They all answer the question, what is it like to teach civics and history at the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence? It's a two-part conversation about the challenges these teachers face and their hopes for the future of civics instruction.

Make sure not to miss it.

Abdul El-Sayed.

He's talking about unity, right? So what do you cite when you talk about unity? Constitution? Declaration of Independence? Maybe an excerpt of a speech from Dr.

Martin Luther King? Nah, he went with this book instead.

Cut number 14, go.