Posted on 07/05/2014 1:15:22 PM PDT by rickmichaels
Every Fourth of July, some Americans sit down to read the Declaration of Independence, reacquainting themselves with the nation’s founding charter exactly as it was signed by the Second Continental Congress in 1776.
Or almost exactly? A scholar is now saying that the official transcript of the document produced by the National Archives contains a significant error – smack in the middle of the sentence beginning “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” no less.
The error, according to Danielle Allen, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, concerns a period that appears right after the phrase “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in the transcript, but almost certainly not, she maintains, on the badly faded parchment original.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
The Congress didn’t much care what Jefferson had to say anyway, thus the story of Ben Franklin consoling him with the story of the hatter. Also the removal of the entire section of the most Christian King of Great Britain being responsible for the slave trade.
What Danielle Allen is responsible for is fallaciously and maybe slanderously attributing e-mails regarding the birth certificate to two illustrious Freepers in the “fight the smears” campaign of candidate Obama in 2008.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/images/declaration_big_enhanced.jpg
Come straight down from the space between "the" and "thirteen."
Fourth line.
The "T" in "That" is upper case.
It is preceded by the separation line.
Stains do that you know...
.
This isn't going to change anything...
Not to mention 51 other men signed this document, all of them reasonably intelligent. I’m pretty sure one of them would’ve pointed out a true error and not affix his name to a document that basically would sign away his life. Come on, now.
There are 4 truths, but only 3 rights: Life, Liberty, and Happiness. The rights are capitalized.
If the founders thought that we could make up new rights, they would have stated in the next sentence:
That to secure these rights and others, governments are instituted among men ..."
Instead of:
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men..."
The only rights mentioned are ONLY the 3 from the previous sentence.
See the text:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Us_declaration_independence.jpg
By removing the period it becomes clear that government comes from the people by their own consent and to serve them. It makes it clear WHY government exists.
The progressive idea is that the people serve the government, that their consent doesn't matter, and the people can be used by the government for some other purpose.
Total BS!!! Just another scheme of the verminous, evil left.
More BS from the PhD (pile it higher and deeper) crowd.
Sorry, not thinking while composing. I wrote “rights” when I should have written “truths”.
I am going to post a semi-vanity to bring forgetful, slumbering Freepers up to date on what a slanderous vicious enemy this woman was to this site in general and to several freepers by name in 2008
I don’t recognize her name.
“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, as long as an oppressive tyrant such as the 44th president does not deem them no longer applicable in modern times and not in line with his agenda.” That looks like a comma after Happiness to me.
Quel surprise!
Wow. Thank you.
This issue can be easily resolved. Microscopic surface examination of all extant copies for quill distortion of the surface. Or use the FBI Doc analysis team. However this person needs to try something else to get more attention.
Would you want her to baby sit your children or educate them ?
"We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
only 3 rights: Life, Liberty, and Happiness.
**********************
Happiness is not one of the rights; only the PURSUIT of happiness is a right.
Regarding current usage being interchangeable:
The unalienable rights that are mentioned in the Declaration of Independence could just as well have been inalienable, which means the same thing. Inalienable or unalienable refers to that which cannot be given away or taken away. However, the Founders used the word "unalienable" as defined by William Blackstone in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1:93, when he defined unalienable rights as: "Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and therefore called natural rights, such as life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislature has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture."...in other words a person may do something to forfeit their unalienable rights...for instance the unalienable right to freedom which can be forfeited by the commission of a crime for which they may be punished by their loss of freedom. However, once they are freed after serving their punishment their right is restored.
Revisionist history should be a capital offense.
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