Posted on 05/04/2010 10:20:16 AM PDT by K-oneTexas
“All men are created equal”
The Founders failed to fulfill that promise.
The Declaration is aspirational, but it matters little without the Constitution as the coherent and practical foundation of American liberty.
“That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” ......... I fear the time is rapidly approaching to “alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government”. I hope this will not be necessary, but I fear it will.
Let's leave the Declaration as our country's "Birth Announcement" and restore the Constitution to rightful place: the charter of our liberties.
Inspirational I think. Although it would be nice if the courts used it as well as the Federalist Papers as cites since they already have used Jefferson’s letter to Danbury Baptist (a non-founding document).
Sorry Ronald but the Declaration is not law!
It IS exactly what it purports to be. A declaration of Independence!
The Libs have been trying to write a new Constitution to their liking and use it as a ‘real’ living document.
The Declaration could not stand as law of the land in its own right without standing along side the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
"Treason doth never prosper -
What's the reason?
For when it prosper,
none dare call it treason"
Military intervention and a short, brutal and nasty civil war to clean house and set the country back on the course the Founders intended. It's either that, or a broad civilizational collapse - speed it up by starving he monkeys. The outcome of the latter will most likely kill off 2/3 of the planet.
The declaration was a statement of agreement to separate from the crown and the reasons why this was necessary. It was not the law in any way shape or form, in particular since there was no independent United States or Constitution for years to come. The Constitution fulfilled parts of concepts detailed in the declaration but it was not law.
The Declaration has one well-recognized effect in American law: in most states, English common law precedents are treated as valid up until July 4, 1776. Other than that, the Declaration does not provide rules of decision. That is the task of the Constitution and legislation.
You are wrong, but understandably so.
The very first congress codified the Declaratiom of Independence as the very first statute; so it is the law of the land.
FYI, the Constitution was codified as the second statute enacted.
Exactly. I have read that as well, that the very first Act of Congress after ratification was to enact the Declaration of Independence as law.
I recently googled “natural law”—what our system is supposedly originally based on-—very interesting—even the stuff I found in Wikipedia.
ML/NJ
Aach! Wee Jemmie canna be happy.
The Declaration is an exercise of Natural rights.
Natural rights trump EVERYTHING and every law, created by man. The constitution, as written, is not incompatible with natural rights only the way it has been “interpreted” over the years and the way those interpretations have been woven into the fabric of society.
That’s right. The Declaration is the cornerstone of the organic law of the United States. If one goes to the website of the House of Representatives and looks up the US Code, the organic law, starting with the Declaration, is first.
“The declaration was a statement of agreement to separate from the crown and the reasons why this was necessary. It was not the law in any way shape or form, in particular since there was no independent United States or Constitution for years to come. The Constitution fulfilled parts of concepts detailed in the declaration but it was not law.”
All true, but the Declaration trumps law. It describes “certain inalienable rights”, which may not be set aside with any moral authority. The Declaration is a particular application of natural law to the unique circumstances of the colonies at that time, but the principles are timeless and transcendant.
The Constitution has increasingly become the vehicle for positive law - that which the State decrees is law, is law, period. http://www.yourdictionary.com/law/positive-law http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/positive_law
Positive law is presently being redefined by liberals to mean “what government is mandated to do for you”, or “the creation of additional rights”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_law
Positive law alone is amoral in its premises however. Government is the source of authority, and is unfettered by natural law.
Law schools pump, polish and pimp positive law while they diminish natural law - except as a limited, quaint historical artifact - because positive law is the carte blanche for authoritarians, and natural law is the tyrant’s cage.
This debate was at the heart of the conflict between the Federalists and the Anti-federalists. With hindsight, the Anti-federalists were correct in their pessimistic projections of where the Constitution would go given time. Their insistence on the Bill of Rights is our last remaining bunker from a totalitarian State.
The Constitution and US Code - as corrupted by the Congress and Executive Orders, and perverted by many generations of Supreme Court Justices - is a degenerative disease.
The principles in the Declaration of Independence are the cure. Those principals in the Declaration will endure long after the United States has failed and merged it’s bones with those of Ozymandias.
Close, but not quite exact. God's Law (natural law for those who prefer) is the supreme law of the United States. When the Constitution as written, which is supposed to be the supreme law, is ignored by socialists like Pelosi and Obama, the Declaration of Independence has the potential to come into play, not with any legal force but as a clear articulation of natural rights that take precedence over the laws of men.
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