Posted on 05/28/2016 5:36:19 AM PDT by Whenifhow
Democrat Louisiana state representatives launched an attack against the phrase “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence Wednesday in response to the state House’s consideration of an education bill.
State Rep. Barbara Norton (D) led the charge against HB 1035, a measure that would require local school boards of education to have students in grades four to six recite a specified section of the Declaration of Independence after the current daily period of silent prayer or meditation and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. The bill, introduced by state Rep. Valarie Hodges (R), would require students in the specified grades to recite the following passage:
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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Hodges, however, tabled her bill under pressure from African-American colleagues Norton and state Rep. Pat Smith (D), who argued that school children should not be required to recite words that were written during a time in history when slavery was prevalent. Norton said directly to Hodges:
One thing I do know is, all men are not created equal. When I think back in 1776, July the 4th, African-Americans were slaves, and for you to bring a bill to request that our children will recite the Declaration, I think is a little bit unfair to us to ask those children to recite something that’s not the truth.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
The introductory passages of the Declaration have nothing to do with any egalitarian delusion. The introduction goes to the reasons for the document to follow. The explanation--endlessly quoted out of context--goes to the nature & function of legitimate Government; basic to the compact theory that follows is the concept that existing Governments--whether Kings or Parliaments--do not rule by divine right;-- but by consent of the Governed, for the purpose of securing the natural rights of the people adhering to that Government.
The equality at Creation flows from the non-existence of any divine mandate for anyone to rule anyone else. Hierarchies arise, naturally, but not by divine decree. Whether they are justified or not depends upon the behavior of the actors.
What follows, of course, before the actual declaration of State sovereignty, is the long indictment--the specific grievances of the Colonies--against the King & Parliament.
Your credulity is touching. I can promise you that politics in the 18 th century was every bit as given to special pleading as our own or any other time.
“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of Negroes?”
Most so called ‘slaves’ were poor white Welsh/Irish/Scottish decent, who sold their services for 7 years for passage to America. Or those trying to escape religious persecution. Called INDENTURED SERVANTS. Have an ancestor on the Muir side, and yes it’s the Muir side that champions the Redwoods in CA. He came to the US as an INDENTURED SERVANT as a 11 year old cabin boy. We have the papers of INDENTURE.
People forget how many white INDENTURED SLAVES there were in the USA because of the Potato Crop failure and the Enclosures that threw people off land they’d farmed for generations. And the Religious persecution.
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