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Thomas Jefferson’s first version of the Declaration of Independence told the truth about America that we would all be well served to remember and exalt this Fourth of July. He wrote,

“We hold these truths to be sacred, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Unfortunately, after the other founders and a committee finished editing his luminous words we were left with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” They (particularly Benjamin Franklin and John Adams) were uncomfortable with his overt theological language, but their solution was a completely contradictory and almost incomprehensible final version of the most important part of America’s most important founding document.

Here are the problems with a declaration written by a committee…

The belief that all men (read people) are endowed by their creator with certain rights is NOT self-evident. It is a religious belief founded in the Bible and based upon the sacred story that all people were made in the image of God. That story is not self-evident.

There is a reason why Jefferson called our founding beliefs as a nation sacred. If our rights come from God, no state can remove those rights. However, if our rights derive from the state, then the state can alter or abolish those rights as it sees fit. America exists to protect and affirm rights that it did not create or confer. Abraham Lincoln understood this perfectly and heroically. Slavery was perfectly legal, but it was also perfectly sinful.

America was not built upon an idea. America is an idea and that idea is linked to faith – not a particular faith but a generalized version of the biblical faith. This is why the Declaration does not say that “all Christians are created equal…” The biblical Creation is a Creation of all people equally by a single God.

Another problem with the secular editing of Jefferson’s divinely inspired words is that it got the idea of rights all wrong. Our creation in the image of God, according to the biblical account, does not grant us rights. It establishes for us duties. There is a huge difference between a right and a duty. A right is something we possess. A duty is an obligation we are commanded to fulfill. For example, if we have a right to private wealth then what we give to the poor from what we own is a voluntary good deed. If, however, God owns everything and we have a duty to share God’s bounty with the poor, then charity becomes an obligation rather than an option. The biblical tithe is a law not an act of mercy or better, it is a merciful law.

Finally, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is an odd basket of rights. The right to life is clear and obvious. If God created us, then only God can take us. The right to life precedes and undergirds all other rights. Liberty is similarly basic to a healthy nation. Liberty is different from freedom. Freedom is the result of living in a just nation. Liberty is the result of living in a just nation that offers all its citizens the opportunities to pursue their passions and benefit from their skills. If someone is free but that person has no access to decent education and nutrition, then that person has no liberty. The Bible brings us God’s words that liberty can be eroded over time and so it instituted the jubilee year in which every 50 years debts were canceled and land was re-apportioned, “You shall proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” (Leviticus 25:10). These very words were inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The link between the Bible and America was always strong.

The odd right listed in the Declaration of Independence is the pursuit of happiness. Isn’t happiness a private virtue? No. A nation can be just and free and unhappy. We can live in a country where we see our fellow citizens as the source of our limitations rather than the source of our fulfillment and that produces an angry populace. We must care that our nation is happy and that only happens when, as JFK famously wrote, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” That only happens when we learn what Mother Teresa wrote on her business cards, “Happiness is the natural fruit of duty.”

Let us remember what Jefferson actually wrote and what we must believe now, “We hold these truths to be sacred.”

Happy Independence Day!

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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