“All
Men Are Created Equal”
Thomas
Jefferson, the main author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, is
attributed as the first to make use of an idea that was popular during the
American War for Independence that all men are born free and equal. However,
note how Jefferson phrases the concept: “All men are created equal”. The way that the idea is phrased unmistakably and
unashamedly makes reference to God. For, that word, i.e., created, can only
mean one thing. To be created presuppose a creator, and in this case, the
Creator. The literary context in which this phrase is found pushes it beyond
argument,
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.
Add to this what is written in the previous
chapter, i.e., “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”, means that only
the deluded and disingenuous would attempt to deny that Almighty God is being referenced
in the Declaration. Also, to say that all men “are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights” is to say that all men know by nature that
they are created equal because all men have the same Creator. Also, keep in
mind that all “Laws” presuppose a Lawgiver, in this case, God.
The
historical context also bears this out. The signers of the Declaration had been
deeply influenced by the teachings of the Bible. In other words, Christianity
had penetrated and permeated every nook and cranny of American society at that
time – as indicated by the wording of the Declaration. Thus, both the literary
context and the historical context serve to illustrate to the open-minded
reader that the U.S. Declaration of Independence is intended to be read and
understood by Christians in a Christian context. To read it as otherwise is to
dishonour the document and those who wrote and signed it. These men were laying
their very lives on the line for something they believed, and something believed
in, inter alia, that “all men are created equal” by the Creator. Thus, after winning their
independence, America became a great experiment, a Christian experiment. Says John Eidsmoe,
Scottish youths who fought for Bonnie
Prince Charlie were put to death by the thousands, using the cruellest forms of
execution… Hundreds of thousands fled Scotland, most of them finding refuge in
North America.
That was in the late 1740s. Thirty
years later, in the 1770s, the next generation of Scottish-Americans became
leaders in the American War for Independence. In England the war was often
called the “Presbyterian Rebellion,” and Prime Minister Horace Walpole
commented that “Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson,” an
obvious reference to Rev. John Witherspoon, Scottish immigrant, President of
the College of New Jersey, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.[1]
Clearly Horace Walpole, the British Prime
minister at the time, along with the whole of Britain, believed that they were
fighting against a Christian movement, i.e., the “Presbyterian Rebellion”,
during the American War for Independence. They ought to know. How so? They
lived then!
“All men are created equal”. What does
this statement mean exactly? Can a Feminist endorse this idea? Can a Calvinist?
Can an Afro-American. Again, may I remind you of the literary and historical
contexts of this statement. It must be read as a Christian statement and
understood in a Christian context. In other words, this statement is not open
to spin. Yes, feel free to disagree with all of it or portions thereof. But do
not bend and twist the statement in an attempt to make it say something it
never intended.
Does “all men” mean that women, children,
Afro-Americans and the non-elect are excluded? Of course not! The statement
means that every human being regardless of skin-colour, ethnicity, sex, age, creed
mental capacity, whether Christian or not has been created equal on account of
being part of the human race. All humans are created equal. In the historical
context this was expressed by saying “all men”, which means of course both male
and female. It does not mean, e.g., that all Christian old white men are
created equal.
The words of the Declaration solidified in
an outstanding document that which would follow, i.e., racial and sexual
equality. Sure, it took more than two centuries for its fulfillment, and it
still needs some work in some areas, but “all men are created equal” is the clear
understanding and expressed goal of the Founding Fathers. To say otherwise is
to misunderstand them and Christianity.
The Feminist Movement has helped to
accomplish what the Founders intended. However, to take umbrage with the word “men”
in the Declaration inadvertently is to seek to destroy the very foundations of
sexual equality in America.
The Afro-American may look at the lives of
the signatories and conclude that they excluded the negro-slave population on
account of some of them, including Thomas Jefferson, being slave-owners.
Whatever contradictions and inconsistencies were in the Founders’ lives does
not change one iota of what they affixed their names to, i.e., “all men are
created equal”. You and I are not always consistent with our beliefs. But all
good men, i.e., all good human beings, given time, try to be.
And what about the Christian Calvinists? A
lot of these are Presbyterian like the signatory Rev. John Witherspoon. Are all
human beings created equal? What about the elect and the non-elect? Calvinists
get into discussions about such things as Predestination and Double-Predestination.
Did God elect or choose one lot of humanity for Heaven and elect or choose another
lot for Hell in eternity past, i.e., before He brought any human beings into
His creation? Some Calvinists hold to a Supralapsarian view and others an
Infralapsarian view. In either view the end result is that some Calvinists may
question the accuracy of the statement “all men are created equal” on the
assumption that those who do not belong to God, i.e., the non-elect of God,
cannot in every sense be equal to those who do. However, the statement “all men
are created equal” was not written as part of a theological treatise, for who
but God alone can ultimately tell His elect from the non-elect? You and I can
only guess at best! Therefore, the Founders are quite right to state that “all
men are created equal” because the hidden things belong to God. No one can say
to God on Judgment Day that they did not know that God existed. “All men are
created equal” and, as the Declaration puts it, “are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights”. If the Creator has endowed you with
something, something “unalienable”, then you already know in your heart that
God exists! Therefore, “all men ARE created equal”, because all human beings,
according to the Founders, are created by the Creator who witnesses His
existence to them, for He has endowed them with “certain unalienable rights”.
Recently I had a
book called Jefferson’s Tears published. About some of the content of this book
I said,
The
USA is the great Christian experiment on the North American continent. Liberia,
based on the American one, is the great Christian experiment on the African
continent. Both hit roadblocks, civil war, relating to race. This issue will
never fully be resolved unless and until we get back to the Declaration of
Independence generally, and particularly those words of Thomas Jefferson, “All
men are created equal”.
The invisible hand of God, i.e.,
Providence, was made visible with the founding of the U.S. Its people shook
their fist in the face of tyranny when it published its Declaration of
Independence. It is a nation solely founded on the will of the people, i.e., a
Christianised people. Like its Declaration, its subsequent Constitution is next
to useless if its people do not view it in the context of Christians and
Christianity. Destroy these foundations and the Republic is destroyed.
“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a
Monarchy?” “A Republic, if you can keep it.” —attributed to Benjamin Franklin
at the close of the Constitutional Convention.[2]
Why destroy something beautiful? Even if
you are not a Christian surely you can see that the intention of the Founders
was a Christian Republic? Sure, that does not mean that everyone in the
Republic needs to be a Christian.
The Church on earth includes sheep as well
as goats, but it’s still the Church. The Church and the State are two separate
entities. They may have different functions but they both belong to one nation
under God.
Says the late Presbyterian D. James
Kennedy
“God loves
America. When you consider what He went through to bring our forbearers to this
magnificent land, and when you realize what He accomplished in bringing forth a
new nation on this continent – a government founded on Christian principles... you
have to realize that He had a dramatic vision and purpose for this nation.”[3]
[1] John Eidsmoe, Historical and Theological Foundations of Law: Volume 2, Classical and
Medieval, Expanded Second Edition, printed November 2016, Nordskog
Publishing Inc., Ventura, California, p. 787.
[2] See Nordskog Publishing Inc. https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?e=&u=35c9c76aab8069406f26dfaa8&id=cf8f2ad3ab
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