Donate Street Scene New York [outside First Women’s Bank] Photo by Calle Hesslefors/ullstein bild via Getty Images In commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence we're exploring how generations of diverse women have experienced a key concept in American history: independence Through a multi-faceted oral history project focused on the last 50 years We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence  will explore when and why women have sought independence in their own lives through the lens of economic power.    The notion of independence and the meaning of economic power has resonated differently across varied groups and time periods—for instance interdependence and connectivity are key values in many communities and therefore supporting family or communal goals is more important than individual wishes Oral histories allow us to hear directly from women about their varied experiences with independence and the ways in which finances and economic issues are connected to this influential concept By listening to diverse women’s voices and contextualizing their experiences we can begin to understand the multiple meanings of a word so familiar to Americans We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence will unfold over the next year and a half featuring several dozen oral histories and community stories of women from across the country accompanied by public programming and educational resources and culminating in an online interactive experience during the country’s semiquincentennial in the summer of 2026.  Our exploration of the meaning of economic independence kicks off with four oral history interviews conducted by curator Rachel Seidman These interviews focus on a singular moment in time in the 1970s when women were pushing for and expanding their economic opportunities marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) which made it illegal for banks to discriminate against women applying for loans based on their sex or marital status Amended in 1976 to extend its protections to include race ECOA fundamentally changed women’s ability to access credit and capital and shifted their relationship to the banking industry Each woman interviewed discusses the messages they received about women and money growing up how they came to understand the notion of financial independence and what steps they took to advance their own and other women’s economic power they offer us a glimpse into how social change happens yet pivotal history of ECOA and the phenomenon of women’s banks that flourished in the decade after its passage.  served as a legislative fellow in the office of Senator William Brock in the early 1970s and convinced him of the need for a national law to prevent banks from discriminating against women when issuing loans and credit cards Card herself had experienced such discrimination and by coordinating with national women’s organizations Senator Brock asked her for “proof” that the problem was widespread and within weeks she supplied him with thousands of letters from women across the United States who had faced credit discrimination due to their sex and marital status Card then helped write the Equal Credit Opportunity Act which passed in 1974.     and the remarkable story of how she became a key figure in the history of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act This interview advances historical scholarship by helping us recover the crucial role that Emily Card played in coordinating between women’s rights activists and Senator William Brock of Tennessee to make important legislative change.  and it said “What the 93rd Congress can do for you.” There was an article by a woman named Ellen Sudow that told us we could get equal credit in that year … I started talking to a bunch of different women's groups There was a woman from NOW [National Organization of Women] who had a whole drawer full of 3000 letters that she had gathered up I was sort of networking around all over the place … I gave [Senator Brock] all the statistics … And then I gave the examples of reasons women couldn't get credit he didn't know if a federal law was needed; he thought it could be a state's right issue we have to have a national law.   Card became a nationally known expert on gender She wrote multiple books and articles on women’s economic independence and hosted her own television show.   [This interview is presented in audio format only.]  Stephanie Lipscomb worked as a young woman at the Adams National Bank originally called the Women’s National Bank One of the earliest and most successful of the multiple women’s banks that opened around the country in the 1970s The Women’s National Bank set out to make sure that women had equal access to credit and financial literacy education at a time when traditional banks were still discriminating against them.   Lipscomb recalls her childhood and family life including the research she and her mother have done about their family’s history as enslaved workers on the Monticello plantation She discusses the importance of having your own money and reflects on what she learned from her parents in terms of financial independence and expecting respect in business interactions Lipscomb’s interview advances our understanding of the little-known history of women’s banks not only in terms of the role they played for customers but for employees as well She recalls how the Adams National Bank offered employees a special room for their children to play in during working hours Lipscomb’s interview helps us draw connections between Black women’s racialized and gendered experiences and helps us understand how change unfolds in American history.   Thank goodness that I was able to know some of the history and experience working with some of those people working with the customers that I met there I just felt that it took having a women's bank to be able to empower women to have credit and to have businesses and not be turned away by some man sitting behind a desk saying ‘no,’ because you're a woman I just think it's an important legacy to keep telling the story about it.”  Today Stephanie Lipscomb is vice president at National Capital Bank of Washington who spent many years working in community banks served as CEO of the Adams National Bank from 2005-2008 after serving as Chairman of the board in the 1990s.    Hubbard recalls her early life and the women who raised her and her reflections on the role of community and women’s banks in making credit more accessible to people This interview advances our scholarship on women’s banks are an underrecognized and underappreciated part of late twentieth-century women’s history.    it's not razzle dazzle stuff; we didn't burn our bras we're going to work behind the scenes and we're going to see that women are educated about finance comfortable about saying ‘I can do this like anybody else can,’ and have a place to come and be listened to And then to actually get them the financial help that they need So that's the women's banks in a nutshell.”  Hubbard earned a graduate certificate in women’s studies at Marshall University where she undertook a history of the Women’s National Bank and other women’s banks and credit unions from the 1970s and 1980s She currently works as a consultant and lives in Leesburg Rosemary Reed is the owner and president of Double R Productions When she was trying to start the company after losing her television job Reed applied for small loans at two local banks in Washington Reed bought the equipment she needed on a credit card A colleague then suggested she try Adams National bank Lipscomb counseled Reed and provided important financial support and cultural capital to help her get her business off the ground.   and multiple experiences she had with mainstream banks before she discovered Adams National Bank This interview helps us understand the critical role that access to credit played in Reed’s ability to flourish as an independent entrepreneur and demonstrates the impact that women’s banks like Adams National Bank could have on women women continued to face obstacles in accessing credit and to learn about how women’s banks made a difference for them.      “I’d had such a bad experience with that other bank Walking into the Abigail Adams National Bank and they would sit down with me and say ‘Okay you're doing this freelance stuff.’ Not making fun of me you're never going to make it.’ They were encouraging me and I think they saw that I had the fire in my belly to make this business work.”  In addition to still running Double R Productions Rosemary Reed has expanded her entrepreneurial endeavors to using her family’s land in Nebraska to grow hemp for fiber that can be used in new kinds of environmentally and economically friendly building materials Kathy Hopinkah Hannan entered the corporate world in the early 1980s and found a role model in her trailblazing female mentor Eventually Hannan became National Managing Partner and Vice Chairman of KPMG LLP and the first woman of Native American ancestry to serve as National Board President of Girl Scouts of the USA Hannan seeks to pay forward the lessons she learned as a young woman about the importance of financial independence and Rosemary Reed—four women whose stories about financial independence demonstrate the importance of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 and the phenomena of women's banks Hear more about the fight for women's financial independence from curator Rachel Seidman and Director Elizabeth Babcock on the Smithsonian’s Sidedoor podcast Educational offerings and resources about women and economic power will be available for learners We're partnering with organizations across the country on collaborations exploring women Hear from our Advisory Council Member Tory Burch about why the 50th Anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act reminds us there’s still work to do for women Director Elizabeth Babcock chatted with NPR reporter Neda Ulaby about our new oral history project We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence Bennett, Karen. “Women and Banking: Fifty Years of Progress,” Bankrate, May 28, 2024 https://www.bankrate.com/banking/history-of-women-in-banking-personal-finance/   National Archives Blogpost Featuring Documents Related to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act    Kratz, Jessie, “On the Basis of Sex: Equal Credit Opportunities,” Pieces of History, the National Archives Blog, March 22, 2023. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/03/22/on-the-basis-of-sex-equal-credit-opportunities/   Statement from President Ford upon signing the amendments to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act   Gerald R. Ford, Statement on Signing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act Amendments of 1976. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Wolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/257980     New York Times Article Celebrating Equal Credit Opportunity Act Passage  Nemy, Enid, “Congress Passes Bill Banning Bias Against Women on Credit, The New York Times, October 11, 1974, p. 1 and 44. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/11/archives/congress-passes-bill-banning-bias-against-women-on-credit-women.html   Brief Overview of Women’s Banking   Rose, Ian. “A Bank of Her Own,” JStor Daily, January 11, 2023. https://daily.jstor.org/a-bank-of-her-own/     Article about Feminist Credit Unions  Sinila, Anne, “Feminist Federal: Economic Self-Help,” Ann Arbor Sun, July 15, 1976. See clipping on Ann Arbor District Library website: https://aadl.org/node/201591     Article about Financially Successful Women’s National Bank of Washington Womach, Emily H., “The Women’s National Bank: A Successful Business Venture,” American Journal of Small Business, Vol. 5.3 (Winter 1981): 8-10. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/104225878100500303     All in the Family Television Sitcom Episode “Edith Versus the Bank”  All in the Family, Season 9, Episode 8, “Edith Versus the Bank.” Television sitcom aired November 19, 1978. In this episode, Edith attempts to get a loan without her husband as a cosigner, and confronts ongoing discrimination and frustration even after the passage of the ECOA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBKWzL4R_v0    Study on Women’s Financial Confidence and Independence   Women, money, confidence: A lifelong relationship. Findings of a study on women’s financial confidence and independence published by Bank of America and Merrill Lynch in the summer of 2022. https://business.bofa.com/content/dam/flagship/workplace-benefits/id20_0905/documents/women-money-confidence.pdf    Emily Card’s Groundbreaking Book Staying Solvent: A Comprehensive Guide to Equal Credit for Women  Danielle Dumain’s Article "Put Your Money Where Your Movement Is: The Feminist Credit Unions of the 1970s”  Danielle Dumaine’s article showcases the history of feminist credit unions organizations that offered women small loans when they often could not get them from mainstream banks Dumaine, Danielle, "Put Your Money Where Your Movement Is: The Feminist Credit Unions of the 1970s,” Journal of Women’s History Vol. 34 No. 3 (Fall 2022): 103-123. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/863167   Louis Hyman’s Article “Ending Discrimination Legitimating Debt: The Political Economy of Race and Credit Access in the 1960s and 1970s”   Louis Hyman’s article puts women’s efforts to gain access to credit in historical and economic context Hyman, Louis, “Ending Discrimination, Legitimating Debt: The Political Economy of Race, Gender, and Credit Access in the 1960s and 1970s,” Enterprise & Society, Vol 12, No1 (March 2011): 200-232, in particular read “The Feminist Fight for Credit,” p. 213-218. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23701426    Greta Krippner’s Article “Democracy of Credit: Ownership and the Politics of Credit Access in Late Twentieth-Century America”  Sociologist Greta Krippner’s article explores how different groups of people have asserted themselves politically through claims to the right to access credit Krippner, Greta R, “Democracy of Credit: Ownership and the Politics of Credit Access in Late Twentieth-Century America,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol.  123 No. 1 (July 2017): 1–47, in particular see the section “Feminist Mobilization for Equal Credit Opportunity,” p. 14-24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26545987  Chloe Thurston’s book At the Boundaries of Homeownership: Credit Thurston offers a thorough exploration of how women’s struggles to gain access to credit fit into a broad political and economic landscape Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use) Smithsonian American Women's History Museum homepage Smithsonian main website Sophie Grace Clark is a Live News reporter based in London, with a focus on crime stories. She has also covered politics and entertainment extensively. Sophie joined Newsweek in 2024 from a freelance career and had previously worked at The Mail on Sunday, The Daily Star, OK Magazine, and MyLondon. She is a graduate of Middlebury College. You can get in touch with Sophie by emailing sg.clark@newsweek.com either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content An Executive Order (EO) signed by President Donald Trump is raising concerns over the protection of women's financial independence as well as other potential civil rights violations The EO, titled Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy is intended to encourage "meritocracy and a colorblind society It calls for an evaluation of all pending proceedings under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) which was first passed in 1974 and amended in 1976 to prevent lenders from discriminating against women based on marital status Although the EO cannot change the law, that can only be done by an act of Congress if independent federal agencies abide by the order they will stall litigation protecting women from being discriminated against for credit and they will roll back guidance and regulations which were in place to protect people's rights Prior to the ECOA, women could be asked to have a male relative or spouse co-sign for their credit cards or loans President Trump cannot singlehandedly remove the ECOA but his EO can make it harder for women to get federal help advocating against gender discrimination and can allow federally funded projects to discriminate based on gender The EO's main target is the principle of disparate-impact liability or some other form of discrimination can occur without explicit intent The President believes that disparate-impact liability is a key tool in a "pernicious movement" that "endangers" the U.S.' foundational principle of "creating opportunity Ben Olinsky senior vice president of Structural Reform and Governance at the Center for American Progress (CAP) explained to Newsweek that disparate-impact liability is: "A recognition that you could have certain hiring practices that not clearly discriminatory in intent...may have a disproportionate impact on a particular protected class It could get at certain kinds of redlining practices." President Trump said: "[Disparate-impact liability] not only undermines our national values but also runs contrary to equal protection under the law and "They're trying to argue that it is somehow violating civil rights law and the Constitution to require employers or housing providers to consider the disparate impact on race or gender or age right or disability," Olinsky told Newsweek cause a white young man to lose out because the criteria has been shifted." The ECOA is also intended to protect people of all races creating concern that many groups could become subject to banking discrimination if federal agencies abide by this EO Evaluation of the ECOA falls under section six of the EO which Olinsky explained to Newsweek means: "To the extent that there have been any kinds of consent judgments or injunctions or orders that have already been put into place...the government should revisit some of those agreements to see if maybe some can be rolled back." He explained that the order would likely result in the dismissal or quashing of any ongoing cases The ECOA falls under the jurisdiction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) The CFPB is supposed to be an independent agency but the Trump administration has been working to couple independent agencies with the White House This move has resulted in several court cases; however Trump has appointed his own head of the CFPB and this head will likely follow through on this Executive Order Not only does President Trump's order for "restoring equality" result in a reevaluation of judgments based around sex discrimination it also calls for an evaluation of ongoing cases related to Titles VII and says: "the Attorney General shall initiate appropriate action to repeal or amend the implementing regulations for Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Title VI prohibits federal funds from going to programs that discriminate against people based on their race Title VII prohibits employment discrimination and Title VIII is also known as the Fair Housing Act which is intended to prevent housing discrimination Olinsky stressed to Newsweek that this EO does not mean people cannot file private suits There are still protections in place for women and other minorities there will be less data collection to aid people in understanding whether they were simply an individual denied a loan or if they were part of a discriminatory pattern and there will be less support from agencies that are supposed to enforce senior vice president of Structural Reform and Governance at the Center for American Progress told Newsweek: "You will see fewer to perhaps no effort by the federal government to make sure that women have equal access to credit that Black people have equal access to credit I think that will likely be a consequence." Executive Order: "Because of disparate-impact liability employers cannot act in the best interests of the job applicant Disparate-impact liability imperils the effectiveness of civil rights laws by mandating Olinsky warned that the full legal consequence of this EO could come later, as these actions may work their way up to a Supreme Court case and to a bench that has shown it is willing to roll back Civil Rights Act protections in the name of equal opportunity as demonstrated in Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsweek is committed to journalism that's factual and fair Hold us accountable and submit your rating of this article on the meter. Newsletters in your inbox See all is celebrated as a public holiday nationwide in Haiti Jean-Jacques Dessalines presented the Haitian Declaration of Independence when he gave the Independence Day speech delivered in Haitian Creole “Citizens: It is not enough to have expelled the barbarians who have blooded our land for two centuries; it is not enough to have restrained those ever-evolving factions that one after another mocked the specter of liberty that France dangled before you forever assure the empire of liberty in the country of our birth; we must take any hope of re-enslaving us away from the inhuman government that for so long kept us in the most humiliating torpor In the end we must live independently or die.” A tradition honoring the independence of the nation is the eating of “joumou” ( a squash/pumpkin soup) as the soup is symbolic of equality and freedom joumou became a symbol of defiance and liberation for the Independence movement The local Haitian restaurant prepares and serves the soup on New Year’s Day the Haitian Declaration of Independence was modeled after the American Declaration as its intention was to create the first independent black republic in the world There was an immediate embargo and isolation of Haiti by the United States the United States refused to recognize Haiti as a nation for sixty years There was the fear that Haiti would threaten United States economic interests but mostly fear of revolts by the enslaved in the United States upon hearing of the successful revolution and freedom from enslavement What the United States and historians have not been open about is that because of the French loss of Haiti and the economic despair it brought the United States benefited and doubled its size due to the Louisiana Purchase from the French white supremacy ideology and the fears of other black independence revolts hindered Haiti’s development and progress as a nation and the world recognition that it deserves There are lessons to be learned about colonialism and its root The first lesson is that the declaration of freedom and equality of all men is simply hypocrisy as these words apply only to those designated as white What other lessons will the Haitian experience reveal about white supremacy ideology In recent years, the page on Pacific Legal Foundation’s website that has drawn the most visitors isn’t about any of our Supreme Court cases or a hotly debated news story. It’s a six-year-old blog post by a former PLF attorney titled “The Declaration of Independence (made easy).” The premise is simple and fantastic: translating the Declaration into plain “It is obvious that all people have the right to equal treatment,” the author writes and the Pursuit of Happiness that can be neither taken nor given away The only legitimate purpose of government is to make sure that these individual rights are protected.” The post translates all 1,320 words of the original Declaration in this way including the colonists’ 27 grievances against the king Why does a plain reading of the Declaration draw so much interest My guess is a heady curiosity: Not every country can trace its founding to a short document There’s mystery and majesty in the Declaration—in what the colonists said to create a new country with a unique identity that stands to this day When web visitors find this blog post—or when someone reads the original text or visits the Declaration itself at the National Archives—there is one key point I hope they take away from our founding document “[T]hat all men are created equal” is the first truth listed in the Declaration; next is that we have the right to life Our country has not always lived up to the promise of its beginning But the American experiment is an attempt to live up to those ideals and to treat all people with the dignity and freedom needed to pursue their own conception of a good life and opportunity as the DNA strands of the country—and that’s what we celebrate on Independence Day Subscribe to the weekly Docket for dispatches from the front lines Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Pacific Legal Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Privacy Policy making it a pivotal milestone for women’s financial independence The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum (SAWHM) is commemorating ECOA’s passage with an online exhibit “We Do Declare Women’s Voices on Independence,” in the lead up to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence (to be celebrated July 4 one year short of reaching its own half-century observance.  By focusing on women’s independence through the lens of economic power over the last 50 years, the Smithsonian exhibit sidesteps more contentious social issues and hones in on another essential factor in women’s ability to achieve freedom, security and power: financial independence The testimonies of powerful women entrepreneurs celebrating ECOA’s anniversary underscore its role in paving the way for their own successes and their commitment to extending opportunity to women who have yet to yield its benefits.  Like FDA approval of the pill a decade earlier, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act “changed the trajectory of American women’s lives” overnight.  The SAWHM’s intentional approach to chronicling the effects of this transformative legislation as related by director Elizabeth Babcock in a recent interview with Ms. is to give attention to the stories of individual women—not necessarily glass ceiling-breaking women but “everyday women” who have shaped “their communities have “acted collectively to shape American history.” The oral history project at the center of the exhibit features four women’s stories, with three relating to women’s banks, which were “were popping up all over the U.S. after ECOA became law.” One oral history features a woman who was president of a women’s bank, another highlights a woman who worked at a women’s bank, and another gives voice to a woman who got a loan from one. The fourth oral history features ECOA crusader Emily Card, “whose name is … synonymous with equal credit rights for American women.” Babcock told me women were legally allowed to get credit in the mid-’70s still were not able to access it. People founded women’s banks so that women could not only access capital but establish financial literacy through classes or access to advice places where “they could have conversations with bankers who weren’t going to make fun of them or treat them like they were stupid.”  The oral history format “allows us to take women’s ideas and insights seriously,” said Smithsonian curator Rachel Seidman, who conceived of the project. It can make visible women’s roles in shaping the history and identity of the country by including  their perspectives and experiences.   People founded women’s banks so that women could not only access capital but establish … places where ‘they could have conversations with bankers who weren’t going to make fun of them or treat them like they were stupid.’  “is to advance scholarship and historical understanding amongst the public.” Since only 10 percent of content in history books is about women one aspiration is to fill those gaps by illustrating the multiplicity of women’s experiences in their own voices where they have been absent According to Seidman, Card organized with the Women’s Legal Defense Fund, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and every woman staffer she could identify on the Hill, to convince former Sen. Bill Brock (R-Tenn.) to leverage his position on the banking committee to advance the federal legislation she helped write, the “bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status in the granting of credit,” known as ECOA.  Card said she was inspired to advance the ECOA after seeing an article in Ms. magazine on the newsstand, “What the 93rd Congress can do for you,” and reaching out to its author, Ellen Sudow. She went on to write a weekly column on finance for Ms Card said that Gloria Steinem herself had told her that they had not been thinking about money as a women’s topic before then.  The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had paved the way for the passage of ECOA has led some to question whether further rollbacks to women’s long-established rights Historians and education experts agree that teaching women’s history is essential to maintaining and advancing women’s progress in society Ms. is wholly owned and published by the Feminist Majority Foundation When was the last time you pulled out your credit card Americans have increasingly used credit to accomplish their economic goals women had far less access to credit than men or other male relative to co-sign loans for you you could not obtain credit cards in your own name—you could only get a card as Mrs no matter how carefully you paid the bills and managed the account it was nearly impossible for you to obtain a loan the bank often ignored the woman’s income in deciding how much they could afford; the bank’s assumption was that if the wife became pregnant she would leave the workforce and lose her income to include the woman’s income in the loan application some banks required couples to produce “baby letters,” in which the woman’s doctor attested that she’d had a hysterectomy or was on birth control and would not get pregnant.   women’s organizations gathered thousands of letters from women around the country decrying their experiences with banks and began to ratchet up public pressure They secured hearings in front of the new National Commission on Consumer Finance in May 1972 New York Democratic Representative Bella Abzug but it stalled partly because she was not on the banking committee a determined Congressional fellow named Emily Card convinced Senator William Brock to take up the call for federal legislation Congress passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) on October 28,1974 making it illegal for banks to discriminate in lending based on sex or marital status.   The ECOA did not do away with sexist and racist discrimination in banking overnight the relatively weak fines associated with breaking the law and other regulatory decisions made it less effective than some had hoped Congress strengthened the law by adding protections against discrimination based on race women’s economic concerns—then and now—encompass more than just access to credit access to credit was not the most critical financial concern—for instance and like other women grappling with poverty Native American women were focused on immediate economic needs the ECOA represented a significant turning point and a major legislative win for those who sought to address inequities in access to credit making it easier for American women to exercise financial independence and to build their financial power.  As part of a larger project exploring the concept of independence oral history interviews were conducted with Emily Card whose stories show how the ECOA came to be and its impact on women and their relationship to the banking industry Each of these women discussed the messages they received about women and money growing up and what steps they took to advance their own and other women’s financial power Emily Card was uniquely instrumental in the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 funneling the women’s movement’s fury over inequity into pragmatic legislation Jeanne Hubbard and Stephanie Lipscomb worked at one of the country’s first women’s banks—institutions that set out to help women take advantage of their newfound access to credit Rosemary Reed relied on that support for her new small business and flourished as an entrepreneur Each of these remarkable women offer compelling insights into the critical relationship between women and financial independence.     Photograph of Emily Card from her book Staying Solvent: Comprehensive Guide to Equal Credit for Women in 1973 as a legislative fellow in the office of Senator William Brock as a young married woman working full time as a university professor Card had been frustrated when a bank refused to give her a credit card except in her husband’s name—even though he was a graduate student with no income and connecting with the women’s organizations that were organizing around women’s access to credit Card set out to convince Senator Brock that he needed to lead the way in calling for federal legislation and was on the Senate floor when it passed and host a television show on women and credit as well as set up research projects on the topic at Harvard and the University of Southern California For many years she was considered one of the leading experts on the topic.  who taught her about the importance of saving and managing her money She started working in the back office of a bank as a young woman in the 1970s and worked her way up she would never have been considered for the role of lending officer because “women didn’t do that.” She remembers lobbying bank management to let women staff wear pantsuits instead of short skirts—and winning.   she became involved with the Abigail Adams National Bank which had originally been known as the Women’s National Bank in Washington one of the earliest and most successful women’s banks in the country felt strongly that her first priority was to be a profitable business and her second priority was to educate women—and men—so that they felt comfortable dealing with their own finances and communicating with bank employees also emphasized making the bank a hospitable place for working mothers Hubbard takes great pride in following in Womack and Bloom’s footsteps and considers women’s banks an underrecognized piece of women’s history.    Stephanie Lipscomb’s father did not want his wife to work while Stephanie’s mother loved caring for her children she also had a strong desire for some financial independence and defied her husband’s wishes enjoyed the freedom that having her own money brought When Stephanie started working at the Adams National Bank in Washington she appreciated the flexibility they gave her as a working mother and the ability to bring her children to the bank where there was a special room set up for employee’s children.   Stephanie became known for her generous and effective counseling to bank customers who came to her for advice get access to the kinds of resources they needed Seeing recently widowed or divorced women who didn’t understand how to manage their own finances shaped her understanding of the importance for women to be educated and competent when it came to money Stephanie’s father taught her not to give her business to anyone who treated her—whether due to her race or her sex—with anything less than respect it doesn't matter how much money people have Rosemary Reed lost her job when management cancelled the long-running and popular television program she had been producing she started her own business and soon was earning more money than she had before When she needed to upgrade from a typewriter on her kitchen table DC to get a loan for a computer and other new equipment and Reed was infuriated by the poor treatment she received as a single woman Reed used her credit card to buy what she needed a friend advised her to try Adams National Bank where she was amazed by the number of women who worked there and the supportive reception she was given Reed benefitted from Stephanie Lipscomb’s sound advice and developed a longstanding relationship with her and the bank Reed pays forward the support she received by mentoring other young women and making sure to pass along all she has learned about managing your money and ensuring your own financial independence.    These four women’s stories offer a glimpse into how central the issue of financial independence is in women’s lives By sharing their life histories so generously they show how the ability to exercise agency in one’s life—whether at the beginning or height of a career; whether married or single; whether with great resources or limited income—is profoundly shaped by one’s ability to exercise control over money and make financial decisions We are deeply grateful to them for all they have done to make a difference in women’s lives and in American history and for letting us listen and learn from their experiences.    Explore the history of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and women’s banks in the United States through podcasts, suggested reading, and more Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc on Thursday emphasized the principle of equality before the law and the independence of the judiciary rejecting main opposition party's allegations of political interference in the ongoing investigation into Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and 105 other suspects over corruption "According to Article 10 of our Constitution Article 138 of our Constitution regulates the independence of the judiciary," Tunc told international journalists at a press conference in Istanbul.He called for respect for the legal process and denounced public misinformation "Appearing before the judiciary and presenting a defense is both a right and an obligation," he added.Tunc underscored that Türkiye’s judicial system operates impartially guided by constitutional principles and legal standards.His remarks came amid an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office involving 106 suspects including Imamoglu.The probe consists of two separate cases — one led by the Terror Crimes Investigation Bureau focusing on allegations of aiding a terrorist organization and another by the Organized Crime Investigation Bureau involving bribery and unlawful data acquisition.Authorities have arrested 51 suspects Prosecutors cite reports from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) and witness testimonies as key evidence.Accusations include rigging public tenders unauthorized collection of Istanbul residents' data certain circles have attempted to pressure judicial authorities without knowing the details of the investigation or understanding the evidence."He firmly rejected attempts to link the case to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying: "This investigation is being conducted entirely by independent judicial authorities."Tunc also criticized international reactions to the probe warning against what he described as biased assessments of Türkiye’s legal system."We firmly reject such prejudiced and double-standard attitudes toward Türkiye Many politicians and government officials in these countries are also subject to judicial investigations and prosecutions."He insisted that legal matters must be resolved in court rather than through public campaigns.Highlighting Türkiye’s judicial reforms over the past 23 years Tunc pointed to improvements in the right to a fair trial such as the introduction of an appellate review system and the right to individual applications to the Constitutional Court.Reaffirming Türkiye’s commitment to democratic values and judicial integrity he said: "Trust in the impartial and independent Turkish judiciary is essential We must follow the process calmly and respect the final decision." show me:Student informationFaculty/Staff informationWe want to provide announcements leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below In the decades following the Declaration of Independence, Americans began reading the affirmation that “all men are created equal” in different ways than the framers intended, says Stanford historian Jack Rakove when the Continental Congress adopted the historic text drafted by Thomas Jefferson they did not intend it to mean individual equality what they declared was that American colonists had the same rights to self-government as other nations Because they possessed this fundamental right they could establish new governments within each of the states and collectively assume their “separate and equal station” with other nations It was only in the decades after the American Revolutionary War that the phrase acquired its compelling reputation as a statement of individual equality Rakove reflects on this history and how now in a time of heightened scrutiny of the country’s founders and the legacy of slavery and racial injustices they perpetuated Americans can better understand the limitations and failings of their past governments Rakove is the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies and professor of political science Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (1996) Beyond Conscience: The Radical Significance of the Free Exercise of Religion will be published next month confronting its history of systemic racism are there any problems that Americans are reckoning with today that can be traced back to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S the Constitution was deeply implicated in establishing “a slaveholders’ republic” that protected slavery in complex ways down to 1861 But the Reconstruction amendments of 1865-1870 marked a second constitutional founding that rested on other premises Together they made a broader definition of equality part of the constitutional order and they gave the national government an effective basis for challenging racial inequalities within the states It sadly took far too long for the Second Reconstruction of the 1960s to implement that commitment it was a fulfillment of the original vision of the 1860s As people critically examine the country’s founding history what might they be surprised to learn from your research that can inform their understanding of American history today the toughest question we face in thinking about the nation’s founding pivots on whether the slaveholding South should have been part of it or not it is difficult to imagine how the framers of the Constitution could have attained that end without making some set of “compromises” accepting the legal existence of slavery When we discuss the Constitutional Convention we often praise the compromise giving each state an equal vote in the Senate and condemn the Three Fifths Clause allowing the southern states to count their slaves for purposes of political representation But where the quarrel between large and small states had nothing to do with the lasting interests of citizens – you never vote on the basis of the size of the state in which you live – slavery was a real and persisting interest that one had to accommodate for the Union to survive the greatest tragedy of American constitutional history was not the failure of the framers to eliminate slavery in 1787 That option was simply not available to them The real tragedy was the failure of Reconstruction and the ensuing emergence of Jim Crow segregation in the late 19th century that took many decades to overturn That was the great constitutional opportunity that Americans failed to grasp perhaps because four years of Civil War and a decade of the military occupation of the South simply exhausted Northern public opinion if you look at issues of voter suppression we are still wrestling with its consequences You argue that in the decades after the Declaration of Independence Americans began understanding the Declaration of Independence’s affirmation that “all men are created equal” in a different way than the framers intended. How did the founding fathers view equality And how did these diverging interpretations emerge When Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal” in the preamble to the Declaration he was not talking about individual equality What he really meant was that the American colonists had the same rights of self-government as other peoples create new governments and assume their “separate and equal station” among other nations Americans began reading that famous phrase another way It now became a statement of individual equality that everyone and every member of a deprived group could claim for himself or herself our notion of who that statement covers has expanded It is that promise of equality that has always defined our constitutional creed Thomas Jefferson drafted a passage in the Declaration later struck out by Congress, that blamed the British monarchy for imposing slavery on unwilling American colonists describing it as “the cruel war against human nature.” Why was this passage removed the Virginia colonists had tried to limit the extent of the slave trade but the British crown had blocked those efforts. But Virginians also knew that their slave system was reproducing itself naturally They could eliminate the slave trade without eliminating slavery That was not true in the West Indies or Brazil The deeper reason for the deletion of this passage was that the members of the Continental Congress were morally embarrassed about the colonies’ willing involvement in the system of chattel slavery To make any claim of this nature would open them to charges of rank hypocrisy that were best left unstated how did they reconcile owning slaves themselves and how was it still built into American law Two arguments offer the bare beginnings of an answer to this complicated question The first is that the desire to exploit labor was a central feature of most colonizing societies in the Americas especially those that relied on the exportation of valuable commodities like sugar Cheap labor in large quantities was the critical factor that made these commodities profitable and planters did not care who provided it – the indigenous population white indentured servants and eventually African slaves – so long as they were there to be exploited To say that this system of exploitation was morally corrupt requires one to identify when moral arguments against slavery began to appear One also has to recognize that there were two sources of moral opposition to slavery One came from radical Protestant sects like the Quakers and Baptists who came to perceive that the exploitation of slaves was inherently sinful The other came from the revolutionaries who recognized as Jefferson argued in his Notes on the State of Virginia that the very act of owning slaves would implant an “unremitting despotism” that would destroy the capacity of slaveowners to act as republican citizens The moral corruption that Jefferson worried about was what would happen to slaveowners who would become victims of their own “boisterous passions.” But the great problem that Jefferson faced – and which many of his modern critics ignore – is that he could not imagine how black and white peoples could ever coexist as free citizens in one republic already too much foul history dividing these peoples that the differences between the peoples would also doom this relationship He thought that African Americans should be freed – but colonized elsewhere This is the aspect of Jefferson’s thinking that we find so distressing and depressing Yet we also have to recognize that he was trying to grapple No historical account of the origins of American slavery would ever satisfy our moral conscience today but as I have repeatedly tried to explain to my Stanford students the task of thinking historically is not about making moral judgments about people in the past That’s not hard work if you want to do it will never explain why people in the past acted as they did That’s our real challenge as historians Melissa De Witte, Stanford News Service: (650) 723-6438; mdewitte@stanford.edu News, insights and events delivered to your inbox each weekday morning. Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice SNP leader John Swinney has told a live TV audience that independence is necessary if Scotland is to become “a fairer Appearing on the BBC’s Question Time Leaders’ Special programme on Thursday, Scotland’s First Minister said that when he became party leader at a “difficult time” just over six weeks ago he was tasked with rebuilding the trust of the Scottish people and with improving people’s lives He said the SNP is committed to eradicating child poverty and strengthening the economy, as well as pledging to “put in the resources” to address immediate problems like NHS waiting lists. It was pointed out to him that Scotland had 7,000 people waiting for over two years, compared with just 300 in England, and he attributed this to the complex health conditions some people were experiencing. I want Scotland to be like Denmark, or Ireland, or Sweden as an independent country. And when you look at those countries, they are more prosperous, they are more equal, they are fairer than Scotland in the United Kingdom Mr Swinney also highlighted the importance of Scottish independence and of rejoining the EU to his party’s domestic agenda, and made his arguments for independence clear when asked whether he would settle for more devolved powers instead. Mr Swinney said: “I’m never going to say no to more powers for the Scottish Parliament. But what I want to be able to do is to do the things that will transform people’s lives. “I want to live in a fairer, more equal country. I want to live in a country that prioritises the improvement of our economy and strengthening the rights and the responsibilities of people in our country. I don’t think that can be achieved for us in the United Kingdom. “I want Scotland to be like Denmark, or Ireland, or Sweden as an independent country. And when you look at those countries, they are more prosperous, they are more equal, they are fairer than Scotland and the United Kingdom. “And that’s a prize I think people in Scotland are attracted to and want to make sure happens for our country.” When one audience member asked him whether he would keep holding referenda “until you get what you want”, he said politicians should set out what they “actually believe in” and let people decide, and that he was a democrat who respected “the right of the people of Scotland to decide their own future”. Fiona Bruce repeatedly challenged him on what it would mean for his democratic mandate for independence if the SNP failed to win a majority of Scottish seats in July given, she suggested, it would be a “democratic decision that you shouldn’t be pursuing independence”. When he repeated that he wanted people in Scotland to confidently vote for the SNP so the party could turn its manifesto into reality, she voiced her conclusion that he was not going to answer the question. He was also asked why the SNP had backtracked on its opposition to new oil and gas licences, and he said that while the need to transition to net zero was “absolutely inescapable” it would be necessary to use fossil fuels “for some time to come”. He added that any new licences would be assessed on a case-by-case basis and would have to be “compatible with our objectives on climate change”, saying issues like energy security would form part of this consideration. NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Jennings is CEO of the Lambda Legal organization He sees his mission in part as fulfilling that hallowed American principle: “All men are created equal.” America.’ And what I mean by that is we have never been a country where people were truly equal,” Jennings says “It’s an aspiration to continue to work towards Anderson is president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center believes that “all men are created equal.” For him the words mean we all have “the same dignity no one a second-class citizen.” At the same time not everyone has an equal right to marry — what he and other conservatives regard as the legal union of a man and woman “I don’t think human equality requires redefining what marriage is,” he says READ MORE: How past presidents celebrated the Fourth of July Few words in American history are invoked as often as those from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, published nearly 250 years ago. And few are more difficult to define. The music, and the economy, of “all men are created equal” make it both universal and elusive, adaptable to viewpoints — social, racial, economic — otherwise with little or no common ground. How we use them often depends less on how we came into this world than on what kind world we want to live in. It’s as if “All men are created equal” leads us to ask: “And then what?” “We say ‘All men are created equal’ but does that mean we need to make everyone entirely equal at all times, or does it mean everyone gets a fair shot?” says Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, which promotes expanded voting rights, public financing of political campaigns and other progressive causes. “Individualism is baked into that phrase, but also a broader, more egalitarian vision. There’s a lot there.” Spahn finds Haynes’ response “philosophically innovative,” because he isolated the passage containing the famous phrase from the rest of the Declaration and made it express “timeless, universally binding norms.” “He deliberately downplayed Jefferson’s original emphasis on problems of collective assent and consent,” she says. The U.S. Declaration of Independence, authorized by the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776, with minor revisions released publicly on July 4, 1776. Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images In Lincoln’s time, according to historian Eric Foner, “they made a careful distinction between natural, civil, political and social rights. One could enjoy equality in one but not another.” “Lincoln spoke of equality in natural rights — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” says Foner, whose books include the Pulitzer Prize winning “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.” “That’s why slavery is wrong and why people have an equal right to the fruits of their labor. Political rights were determined by the majority and could be limited by them.” The words have been denied entirely. John C. Calhoun, the South Carolina senator and vehement defender of slavery, found “not a word of truth” in them as he attacked the phrase during a speech in 1848. Vice President Alexander H. Stephens of the Confederate States contended in 1861 that “the great truth” is “the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.” The overturning of Roe v. Wade and other recent Supreme Court decisions has led some activists to wonder if “All men are created equal” still has any meaning. Robin Marty, author of “Handbook for a Post-Roe America,” calls the phrase a “bromide” for those “who ignore how unequal our lives truly are.” Marty added that the upending of abortion rights has given the unborn “greater protection than most,” a contention echoed in part by Roe opponents who have said that “All men are created equal” includes the unborn. 1776: The drafting of the Declaration of Independence in Colonial America. From left to right: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman. (Photo by Stock Montage/Stock Montage/Getty Images) Among contemporary politicians and other public figures, the words are applied to very different ends. — President Donald Trump cited them in October 2020 (“The divine truth our Founders enshrined in the fabric of our Nation: that all people are created equal”) in a statement forbidding federal agencies from teaching “Critical Race Theory.” President Joe Biden echoed the language of Seneca Falls (“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal”) while praising labor unions last month as he addressed an AFL-CIO gathering in Philadelphia. — Morse Tan, dean of Liberty University, the evangelical school co-founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., says the words uphold a “classic, longstanding” Judeo-Christian notion: “The irreducible worth and value that all human beings have because they (are) created in the image of God.” Secular humanists note Jefferson’s own religious skepticism and fit his words and worldview within 18th century Enlightenment thinking, emphasizing human reason over faith. — Conservative organizations from the Claremont Institute to the Heritage Foundation regard “all men are created equal” as proof that affirmative action and other government programs addressing racism are unnecessary and contrary to the ideal of a “color-blind” system. Ibram X. Kendi, the award-winning author and director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, says the words can serve what he calls both “antiracist” and “assimilationist” perspectives. “The anti-racist idea suggests that all racial groups are biologically, inherently equal. The assimilationist idea is that all racial groups are created equal, but it leaves open the idea some racial groups become inferior by nurture, meaning some racial groups are inferior culturally or behaviorally,” says Kendi, whose books include ”Stamped from the Beginning” and “How to Be an Antiracist.” “To be an anti-racist is to recognize that it’s not just that we are created equal, or biologically equal. It’s that all racial groups are equals. And if there are disparities between those equal racial groups, then it is the result of racist policy or structural racism and not the inferiority or superiority of a racial group.” Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC. All Rights Reserved. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins Volume 11 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.606354 Past research has found a strong and positive association between the independent self-construal and life satisfaction in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures we collected data from four countries (the United States and Hungary; N = 736) and replicated these findings in cultures which have received little attention in past research we treated independence as a multifaceted construct and further examined its relationship with self-esteem and life satisfaction using samples from the United States and Romania (N = 370) Different ways of being independent are associated with self-esteem and life satisfaction in the two cultures suggesting that it is not independence as a global concept that predicts self-esteem and life satisfaction feeling independent in culturally appropriate ways is a signal that one’s way of being fits in and is valued in one’s context “The most incredible beauty and the most satisfying way of life come from affirming your own uniqueness.” The fact that I carry my cross by myself.” These new findings raise the question of whether or not there is any cultural diversity in the association between independence If different shades of independence are valued it is possible that being independent in ways that are prescribed and valued by one’s culture is associated with increased self-esteem and thus further promotes life satisfaction but being independent in ways that are not valued by one’s culture is not associated with increased self-esteem The present research is an attempt to test explicitly whether or not different ways of being independent are more or less linked to self-esteem and to life satisfaction in different cultures The self-esteem of highly independent individuals will therefore reflect their perceived success at achieving their independent Although arguing for the universal importance of cultural fit for self-esteem and life satisfaction this perspective also allows room for cultural differences in the specific content and definition of independence that can bring about a sense of cultural fit There are different ways to experience and exercise independence and different cultures may emphasize different ways of being independent one may feel good about oneself when one stands out and experiences oneself as unique and different; alternatively one may feel good about oneself when one does not have to rely on anyone else and can take care of oneself different ways of being independent and interdependent are valued in different cultures testing not only if there are different ways of being independent in different cultures but also if there are psychological implications associated with being or not being independent in ways prescribed by one’s culture Whereas previous studies have linked independence as a unidimensional single factor construct we examine the notion of independence to determine if different aspects of independence are associated with self-esteem and life satisfaction in different cultures Previous studies found a pancultural explanation we predicted that more cultural differences would emerge We suggest that it is not independence as a large global concept that predicts self-esteem and feeling independent in culturally appropriate ways is a signal that one’s way of being oneself fits in and is valued in one’s context The current research is made up of two studies. In Study 1, we sought to confirm that the previously found relationship between the single-factor measure of independent self-construal typically used in the literature (i.e., Singelis, 1994) and life satisfaction would hold true in multiple cultures even cultures that have previously received scant attention in empirical research In Study 2, we used Vignoles et al. (2016) model of self-construal to explore further the relationship between independence Using samples from two cultures (the United States and Romania) we examined whether treating independence as a multifaceted construct would reveal considerable variability in the meaning of independence across cultures as well as the implications of different ways of being independent on psychological outcomes such as life satisfaction Irrespective of actual levels of independence independences still has a positive relationship with self-esteem and well-being as has been documented in previous literature we predicted that the relationship between independence and life satisfaction Participants were 736 undergraduate students They took part in the study for course credit The sample consisted of 164 United States (72.6% females; Mage = 20.17 199 Hungarian (86.4% females; Mage = 23.83 and 96 Japanese (44.8% females; Mage = 18.97 Independent and interdependent self-construals were measured with the popular Singelis (1994) self-construal scale Fifteen items were used to measure the independent self-construal (e.g. I enjoy being unique and different from others in many respects) and 15 items were used to measure the interdependent self-construal (e.g. “I feel good when I cooperate with others”) Participants rated each item on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) Higher scores indicated higher levels of independent self-construal (α = 0.74 for the United States sample; α = 0.72 for the Hungarian sample; α = 0.74 for the Romanian sample and α = 0.78 for the Japanese sample) and of interdependent self-construal (α = 0.72 the United States sample; α = 0.88 for the Hungarian sample; α = 0.86 for the Romanian sample and α = 0.71 for the Japanese sample) Self-esteem was measured with the Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale “I feel that I have a number of good qualities”) Participants rated each item on a four-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree) Higher scores indicated higher self-esteem (α = 0.91 for the United States sample; α = 0.72 for the Hungarian sample; α = 0.86 for the Romanian sample and α = 0.85 for the Japanese sample) Life satisfaction was measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985) Higher scores indicated higher life satisfaction (α = 0.90 for the United States sample; α = 0.82 for the Hungarian sample; α = 0.79 for the Romanian sample Demographic information was obtained on age and gender. Subjective socioeconomic status was measured with the MacArthur pictorial scale (Adler et al., 2000) Participants marked their rung in society compared to others in their environment Data analysis comprised of four distinct stages: (a) computing descriptive statistics, conducting correlation and ANOVA analyses; (b) performing multi-group SEM to test the mediation model shown in Figure 1; (c) performing bootstrap procedures to test the indirect effects in the mediation model; and (d) testing the invariance of the mediation model as well as post-hoc slope comparisons to determine the paths that were significantly different in the four samples The path model of the relationships between independent and interdependent self-construal and life satisfaction in all four cultures the values shown are standardized path coefficients; the statistically significant coefficients are shown in bold Continuous lines represent significant paths in at least one sample (p < 0.05) whereas the interrupted line represents non-significant path (p > 0.05) Structural models were evaluated using a constellation of goodness-of-fit indices as recommended by Hu and Bentler (1999) the Comparative Fit Index (CFI – values above 0.95 indicate good fit) the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA – values below 0.06 indicate good fit) and the Standardized Root Mean-square Residual (SRMR – values below 0.08 indicate good fit) To test the hypothesized mediating effects of self-esteem in the link between self-construals and life satisfaction in a SEM framework, we analyzed the indirect effects of self-construals on life satisfaction using bootstrap functions with 5,000 bootstrap samples and 95% confidence intervals. We used Zhao et al. (2010) mediation typology to distinguish between: (a) complimentary mediation where both the mediated and direct effect exist and point in the same direction (b) competitive mediation where both mediated and direct effect exist but point in opposite directions (c) indirect-only mediation where mediation exists but there is no direct effect (d) direct-only non-mediation where only a direct effect exists and (e) no-effect non-mediation where neither direct nor indirect effect exist A significant z-score indicated significant differences between the groups Tests of measurement invariance for the scales in Study 1 Descriptive statistics and the results of one-way ANOVA with post-hoc comparisons between the four cultural samples for the variables in the study are presented in Table 2 Results of one-way ANOVA with post-hoc comparisons between the four cultural groups for the variables in the Study 1 model Table 3 presents the bivariate correlations between the variables in each cultural group Bivariate correlations between all variables in the study in all four cultural samples in Study 1 The model was not the same across our four cultures. The results of slope comparisons are shown in Table 4 Differences in the paths of the model between the four cultural samples in Study 1 and total effects of independent and interdependent self-construals on life satisfaction in all four cultural samples in Study 1 Study 1 results replicated previous findings (Kwan et al., 1997; Chang et al., 2011; Duan et al., 2013; Yu et al., 2016), showing that unidimensional independence and life satisfaction are positively and indirectly related, by self-esteem mediating the relationship. A potential explanation of this mediation mechanism is provided by Markus and Kitayama (1991) who argued that individuals’ own evaluation of their self-worth which is strongly connected with their life satisfaction is dependent on the cultural standards encompassed in their self-construal Our results confirmed the invariance of this mediated relationship in individualistic and collectivistic cultures that have received little attention in past empirical research in addition to well-studied cultures such as the United States and Japan we focused more in depth on two of the countries from Study 1 – the United States and Romania we established that in both of these cultures unidimensional independence predicts life satisfaction and this is partially mediated through self-esteem Our intent for Study 2 was to see if taking a more nuanced approach and using a new multidimensional measure of independence would illuminate differences between the two cultures a country that is poorer and has dealt with much more upheaval and uncertainty in its recent past (including the collapse of communism and a tumultuous transition to a democracy) aspects of independence that would be valued and associated with self-esteem and life satisfaction would be related to being tough and self-reliant a relatively wealthier and more stable environment aspects of independence associated with being unique and standing out would be associated with self-esteem and life satisfaction Data was collected from a convenience sample of 370 participants They were 203 Romanian and 167 undergraduate psychology students in the United States who received course credit or extra credit for participating in the study 11 participants were excluded from the analyses because they were not fully enculturated in the United States culture (i.e. they were born in another country and immigrated in the United States after they were 5 years old) The mean age of the remaining 156 participants included in the analyses was 18.71 years (SD = 1.27) Independent and interdependent self-construals were measured with the 62-item version of the seven-factor self-construal scale recently developed by Vignoles et al. (2016) Participants indicated the extent to which each of 62 items described them on a nine-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 9 (exactly) The scale includes seven sub-scales reflecting ways of viewing the self as independent of others or interdependent with others with respect to different domains of functioning connectedness to others with respect to experiencing the self (e.g. “Your happiness is independent from the happiness of your family”; α = 0.70 for the United States sample; α = 0.75 for the Romanian sample) receptiveness to influence with respect to making decisions (e.g. “You usually decide on your own actions rather than follow others’ expectations”; α = 0.77 for the United States sample; α = 0.76 for the Romanian sample) similarity reflects the ways of viewing the self as independent vs interdependent with respect to defining the self (e.g. “You see yourself as different from most people”; α = 0.83 for the United States sample; α = 0.76 the Romanian sample) dependence on others with respect to looking after oneself (e.g. “You prefer to rely completely on yourself rather than depend on others”; α = 0.79 for the United States sample; α = 0.76 the Romanian sample) variability with respect to moving between contexts (e.g. “You behave the same way at home and in public”; α = 0.89 for the United States sample; α = 0.81 for the Romanian sample) harmony with respect to communicating with others (e.g. “You prefer to say what you are thinking even if it is inappropriate for the situation”; α = 0.78 for the United States sample; α = 0.74 for the Romanian sample) commitment to others with respect to dealing with conflicting interests (e.g. “Your own success is very important to you even if it disrupts your friendships”; α = 0.70 for the United States sample; α = 0.76 for the Romanian sample) Each sub-scale is composed of a certain number of items tapping the independent way of viewing the self and a number of items tapping the interdependent way Items for both the independent pole and for the interdependent pole of each sub-scale were positively phrased but conceptual reversals of each other (e.g. consistency: “You behave the same way at home and in public” vs variability: “You see yourself differently in different social environments”) Items tapping the interdependent self-views were reverse coded Higher scores on each dimension indicate a higher independent view of the self and lower scores a higher interdependent self-view As in Study 1, self-esteem was measured with Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale (α = 0.90 for the United States sample; α = 0.88 for the Romanian sample) and life satisfaction was measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; α = 0.88 for the United States sample; α = 0.89 for the Romanian sample) The analytic approach was similar to the approach used in Study 1 except for the fact that the model we tested is based on seven-dimensional self-construal and includes only two samples Measurement invariance was tested in the same way as for the scales in Study 1. The results of the tests of measurement invariance for the three scales in Study 2 are presented in Table 6 Both metric and scalar measurement invariance was achieved allowing for cross-cultural comparisons using these measures Tests of measurement invariance for the scales in Study 2 Descriptive statistics and the results of t-tests for differences between the United States and Romanian samples for the variables in the study are presented in Table 7 and t-tests for differences between the United States and Romanian samples for the variables in the Study 2 Table 8 presents the bivariate correlations between the variables in each sample Bivariate correlations between all variables in Study 2 by each culture slightly improved over the initial model [χ2 = 39.52 p = 0.169; CFI = 0.991; SRMR = 0.040; RMSEA = 0.026 CI 10% (0.000 Path model of the relationships between self-construal dimensions the values shown are standardized path coefficients The paths that were not statistically significant in at least one sample are not showed; the statistically significant coefficients are shown in bold; US The differences in the paths of the model between the two cultural samples are shown in Figure 2 (see also Table 9) Differences in the paths of the model between the two cultural samples in Study 2 Next, we tested the indirect effects of the self-construal dimensions on life satisfaction through self-esteem (indirect-only mediation, where mediation exists but there is no direct effect, Zhao et al., 2010) two self-construal dimensions had statistically significant positive indirect effects on life satisfaction there were three self-construal dimensions that had positive indirect effects on life satisfaction We then tested direct-only nonmediation, where only a direct effect exists between self-construal dimensions and life satisfaction, in each cultural sample. As shown in Figure 2 four self-construal dimensions predicted life satisfaction directly Only one of these dimensions predicted life satisfaction positively This means that a higher level of the independent pole of a self-construal dimension was associated with lower life satisfaction whereas a higher level of the interdependent pole of the same dimension was associated with higher life satisfaction There was only one dimension that predicted life satisfaction similarly connectedness to others [the United States sample: B = −0.16 (0.082) p < 0.05; β = −0.13(0.069) p < 0.05; Romanian sample: B = −0.14 (0.076) p < 0.05; β = −0.12(0.062) receptiveness to influence predicted life satisfaction negatively only in the United States sample [B = −0.17 (0.067) p < 0.05; β = −0.16(0.063) commitment to others predicted life satisfaction negatively only in the Romanian sample [B = −0.21 (0.056) p = 0.001; β = −0.22(0.059) Our results suggest that in the same way that different ways of being independent are related to life satisfaction indirectly different ways of being interdependent can also be related directly to life satisfaction in different cultures we expected to find much more cultural variability in the association between independence The results were in line with these expectations In contrast with the culturally invariant model in Study 1 the model in Study 2 showed significant cultural differences in the relationship between two self-construal dimensions (i.e. similarity – significant only in the United States sample; self-reliance vs dependence on others – significant only in the Romanian sample) and self-esteem and in the relationship between two other self-construal dimensions and life satisfaction (i.e. receptiveness to influence – significant only in the United States sample; self-interest vs commitment to others – significant only in the Romanian sample) who suggests that high interdependence can be found in Americans who are working-class and/or people of color Our American student samples were mixed in terms of both race/ethnicity and social class so it is possible that their high scores on interdependence are due to the specific characteristics of the sample under investigation our findings suggest that by conceptualizing independence as a broad global concept much of the subtle ways in which culture impacts psychological processes may be ignored It appears that being independent in the ways prescribed by one’s culture signals that one belongs and fits in with one’s cultural group and this cultural fit may be one of the keys to self-esteem and life satisfaction The current studies are the first to show not only that independence varies across the two cultures under investigation (i.e. but that there are also different psychological implications associated with being independent in different ways future studies might test experimentally the causality of the relationships in the model informing potential interventions to boost life satisfaction in people from various cultures The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by ethics committees of West University of Timișoara and of University of California The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study DM and SL share equal first authorship of this article All authors jointly developed the ideas presented in this article and HK designed the studies and collected the data and all authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission The work carried out for this paper by DM received financial support from “Entrepreneurial Education and Professional Counseling for Social and Human Sciences PhD and Postdoctoral Researchers to ensure knowledge transfer” (ATRiUM) Project co-financed from European Social Fund through Human Capital Programme 2014–2020 The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: preliminary data in healthy The local-ladder effect: social status and subjective well-being Google Scholar The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation Cultural bases for self-evaluation: seeing oneself positively in different cultural contexts Habits of the heart: Middle America observed California: University of California Press Google Scholar Incorporating the cultural diversity of family and close relationships into the study of health Self-construal and subjective wellbeing in two ethnic communities in Singapore CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Culture moderates the relationship between emotional fit and collective aspects of well-being Relating self-concept consistency to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in eight cultures Profilul psihologic al românilor într-o monografie cognitiv-experimentală (The Psychology of the Romanians: the psychological profile of the Romanians in a cognitive-experimental monograph) Google Scholar De Leersnyder Feeling right is feeling good: psychological well-being and emotional fit with culture in autonomy-versus relatedness-promoting situations De Leersnyder Emotional fit with culture: a predictor of individual differences in relational well-being Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Self and well-being: relational harmony and self-esteem as mediators Google Scholar Self-esteem and self-consistency: a theoretical and empirical link between two primary motivations CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Eurofound (2013) Third European quality of life survey – Quality of life in Europe: Subjective well-being Google Scholar Fülöp fast adaptation to social change or cultural continuity among two generations of hungarians Acta de investigación psicológica 9 Are there “his” and “hers” types of interdependence The implications of gender differences in collective versus relational interdependence for affect Gaskin, J. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Daniela Moza, ZGFuaWVsYS5tb3phQGUtdXZ0LnJv †These authors share first authorship Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Assistant Director and Senior Policy Analyst it is worth reflecting on what the Founding Fathers meant when they used the term “independence.” The Founders’ understanding of what individuals can and cannot do was always placed in the broader context of a moral order consistent with the life well lived Forming and maintaining an independent country composed of an independent people was never an easy task and always a continuous and impermanent one it is worth reflecting on what the Founding Fathers meant when they used the term “independence.” On one level July 4th is about our national independence securing for America the “separate and equal station” befitting of a sovereign country the founders sought to recognize and promote the political and economic independence of the American people setting forth the continuous project of maintaining an independent American mind.  For a first glance at what the Founders meant by “independence, it may actually be helpful to consider Noah Webster’s 70,000-word American dictionary from 1828, which is often cited by the Supreme Court to evidence the original meaning of the Constitution and is credit with “capturing the language of the new nation.” That dictionary offers these varying definitions of independence: A state of being not dependent; complete exemption from control or the power of others; as the independence of the Supreme Being A state in which a person does not rely on others for subsistence; ability to support one’s self A state of mind in which a person acts without bias or influence from others; exemption from undue influence; self-direction. independence of mind is an important qualification in a judge These versions of independence are related as can be discovered by examining the writings of the Founders further Exemption from control is the right of self-government which is accompanied by corresponding duties Economic independence is freedom to use one’s talents and abilities to obtain property and support one’s self which enables one to direct the will toward justice is the culminating freedom of an economically independent and Mercy Otis Warren used “independence” in varying ways none of their definitions is synonymous with the radical autonomy that progressives push today When considering the conditions of the time and place that the Founders found themselves in—that is putting their ideas in the proper context—this becomes obvious Individual independence for the Founders is always situated within a transcendent moral order and an understanding of what enables human flourishing >>> Stuck With Freedom, Stuck With Virtue equal and free: no one has a right to any authority over another without his consent: all lawful government is founded on the consent of those who are subject to it: such consent was given with a view to ensure and to increase the happiness of the governed above what they could enjoy in an independent and unconnected state of nature.” The Founders considered that mankind’s independence exempted him from the arbitrary rule of fellow human beings and that his nature fortified him with the dignity of self-government the people “are inherently independent of all but moral law.” While each individual is free to govern his or herself he or she is also obliged to aim towards virtue and strive for reason to govern passions is a prescription to a licentious or morally relativistic pursuit of economic success at all costs economic freedom includes a right to “material things,” but—as always with the Founders—this freedom is imbued with an ethical dimension and thus goes beyond the material to touch on “humanity’s spiritual and moral conditions.” Individuals’ talents and abilities are justly utilized in securing temporal prosperity and security but also in fostering virtues within themselves so they are more capable of fulfilling the obligations of self-government This understanding of the pursuit of happiness is especially clear in James Madison’s view of property An individual also has “equal property in the free use of his faculties and free choice of the objects on which to employ them as a man is said to have a right to his property he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.” As noted in Federalist 10 the primary object of government is to protect the faculties of men which are diverse and naturally give rise to differences in property they own their unique talents and abilities and should be able to utilize those gifts without any hinderance by arbitrary barriers The absence of aristocratic hierarchies in America demanded interdependence within families and communities French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville observed that: In aristocratic societies men have no need to unite to act because they are kept very much together Each wealthy and powerful citizen in them forms as it were the head of a permanent and obligatory association that is composed of all those he holds in dependence to him whom he makes cooperate in the execution of his designs all citizens are independent and weak; they can do almost nothing by themselves… They therefore all fall into impotence if they do not learn to aid each other freely being an independent American is not equivalent to being an autonomous individual but rather a competent and industrious one who labors to take responsibility for him or herself With the severing of feudal ties and the rise of nuclear families over intergenerational ones even more dependent on those closest to him.  The third definition of independence invoked by the Founders was independence of will which is a mind directed towards justice and supported by the moral qualities fostered by self-government and economic independence The first two definitions of independence are prerequisites for independence of will the culmination of their interaction.  Historian and Founder Mercy Otis Warren provided a robust description of people who achieved this independence of will she noted that it was “composed of the principal gentlemen and landholders in the province; men of education and ability of integrity and honor; jealous of the infringement of their rights and the faithful guardians of a free people Their independency of mind was soon put to the test.” Individuals with independent minds know what they are about Their self-direction (a qualifier in Webster’s third definition) can survive being tested by others because it is fortified by and directed towards a justice  superior to human will and put the common good above their own self-interest By pursuing a liberal education and being well-informed about public affairs they can be elevated above the deception of conniving >>> Returning to Deliberation As economic independence and political self-government inculcate and reinforce one another are free to use their talents to secure their stability and advance prosperity to better fulfill the obligations of self-rule those who are economically free tend to develop the spiritedness characteristic of republican citizens “both public and private virtue sink with the loss of liberty and that the nobler emulations which are drawn out and adorn the soul of man or shrink into littleness at the frown of a despot.” Living under tyranny enfeebles men and women whose behavior and spoken opinions are influenced by those upon whom their livelihoods depend Individuals who cannot freely set their opinion against others can be deprived of a deliberative mind Being economically free helps guard citizens against political tyranny and supports the development of an independent will Independence of will had serious implications for voting regulations but many such regulations were matters of condition the Founders did not believe any human being is naturally inferior but they did believe that some people were more likely to be subject to undue influence If it were probable that every man would give his vote freely upon the true theory and genuine principles of liberty should have a vote… some who are suspected to have no will of their own are excluded from voting; in order to set other individuals more thoroughly upon a level with each other But that’s what makes the American story so remarkable Declaring that “all men are created equal” (and by “men” they meant “mankind”) at the nation’s birth provided the philosophical reasoning to extend full citizenship to all.  we enjoy the fruits of that founding vision and reading radical autonomy into the founding America has been secured as a sovereign nation a nation that respects economic freedom and enjoys unprecedented prosperity Citizens’ political rights of self-government have been recognized The work of fostering a people replete with the moral resolve and character of an independent will perpetually remains unfinished For its ever-invoking realization is dependent on the choices and conduct of each generation of Americans.   This piece originally appeared in Law & LIberty on July 4 The principles of America’s Founders must be restored to their proper role in the public and political discourse influencing public policy and reforming government to reflect constitutional limits.  Our websites may use cookies to personalize and enhance your experience. By continuing without changing your cookie settings, you agree to this collection. For more information, please see our University Websites Privacy Notice 'Our contradictions are built into our political DNA,' says UConn historian Richard D The ideal of equal rights articulated in the Declaration of Independence was at the core of the founding of the United States on July 4, 1776. Yet the young nation struggled with every form of social inequality, despite the declaration that “all men are created equal.” In a new book, “Self-Evident Truths: Contesting Equal Rights from the Revolution to the Civil War” (Yale University Press 2017) Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus traces how the ideal was tested over issues of race and ethnicity He spoke with UConn Today about how some of these issues continue to evolve you describe the unalienable rights claimed in the Declaration of Independence as more of an aspiration a “promise for the future” rather than a guarantee of equal rights You also note the colonists were looking to declare their rights from the perspective of being Englishmen Why did they broaden their view of such rights When they argued they must be liberated from Britain Patriots believed they must make more than an argument for the rights of Englishmen Living as they did in the Enlightenment world of Locke they believed a more universal claim was necessary Enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century had been articulating the rights of man broadly; so moving from the rights of Englishmen to the universal plane appealed to them there was a large German minority with whom “the rights of Englishmen” did not resonate When Jefferson formulated the Declaration’s universal language and Roger Sherman never questioned his words As to the issue of universal rights of man and woman few thought seriously about the rights of women Abigail Adams in her now famous private letter of 1776 asserted the rights of women but the issues she raised were never discussed in the Continental Congress Delegates recognized that their statement about the rights of man was truly radical because they weighed its consequences for slavery 73 percent of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were themselves slaveholders Clearly they had to judge the impact of their “universal” declaration on slavery The lawyerly argument a Virginian worked out claimed that rights belonged only to people who were in society to recognize that in 1776 slavery had not yet been defined racially in law Slavery was one of several states of unfreedom some of which (such as apprenticeships and indentured servitude) whites and blacks shared at the time of the Revolution and Constitution there was also a free African American population When the Constitution was adopted in 1787-88 there were nearly 60,000 free blacks; and some of them voted on the ratification of the Constitution Universal white manhood suffrage was not yet a common American policy every state set property requirements for voting When Congress asserted the unalienable rights to life The self-evident truths proclaimed in the Declaration were certainly aspirational; but as the liberalized Pennsylvania suffrage demonstrated there were significant numbers among elite Patriots who believed those truths possessed broad application women were seen through the prism of their husband’s rights including how they were treated in courts of law the policy established in English jurisprudence and built into American law Coverture provides that when a woman marries Her legal status is merged with her husband; and he is the active citizen so much so that when a woman carried out a criminal act in the presence of her husband Political rights prior to 1776 and for a long time thereafter were linked to property ownership Daughters and married women did not own property Women did develop education and emerge as political actors in the 1800s women’s rights never won majority support in any state You discuss early issues focused on immigration We seem to continue to have such equality issues today A. In Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” widely embraced by the Revolutionaries America was to be an asylum for all mankind which by 1793-94 included anti-Christian ideology and a murderous political movement to exterminate political enemies At about the same time the bloody Haitian Revolution – a black uprising justified by universal revolutionary rhetoric – exploded not far from American shores which was frightening to white people in northern states as well as the South Many Americans feared people coming in and spreading French radicalism and secularism in the United States there was an Irish uprising against the English and supported by the French foreigners represented a toxic threat to the United States including atheism the sexual libertinism of the French Revolution The French Revolution divided the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Democrats who were sympathetic to the French Revolution and vigorously anti-monarchist The colonies had always been wide open to immigrants and a key reason was that the British wanted to increase population so as to develop the economy and trade the colonies’ domestic arrangements didn’t matter very much Britain wanted colonies for their commercial value and increased population meant commercial growth Foreigners couldn’t just come into England and become English subjects; but they could come into the colonies and become English subjects regardless of race or religion American citizenship laws in the colonial era and later were largely American inventions You also note that Thomas Paine said that Europe later characterizing America as having always been a multicultural there’s a debate focused on differences in religion and skin color Early leaders of the United States were clearly in favor of a nation descended from European populations which enabled any white person to become a citizen Congress projected the United States as multiethnic and multicultural within the bounds of Europeans To a large extent that has remained the dominant pattern for the U.S Two challenges to open European immigration are exceptions: first in the 1850s in response to the Irish famine migration Some argued there were too many Irish Catholics coming in and their citizenship should be restricted when there was a large southern and eastern European immigration of Catholics and Jews between 1890 and 1910 nativists mounted another substantial movement to block this “new” immigration This resulted in 1921 and 1924 in immigration restriction acts establishing quotas based on keeping America the way it had been These laws set large quotas for northern Europeans and small quotas for people from eastern and southern Europe though Asians were not permitted to become citizens until after the Second World War The backlash we witness in our own time is based on that same perception of what the United States is and should be – a country of white people of European descent and anybody who is not of European descent is somehow less American One fact that has struck me for a long time the image in their mind is a white southerner even though blacks in that region are just as much southerners as whites But American politics and culture have defined southerners as “whites.” Ironically in South Carolina at the time of the Civil War there were more black southerners than there were white southerners but the black southerners were mostly slaves who It’s interesting to note that states had the authority to regulate religion when the Declaration was being written How did the debate unfold as the founders moved toward independence religion is actually the brightest chapter in terms of realizing equal rights That happened largely because various Protestant groups were so fearful that government would force them into some religion (not their own) that they demanded that government keep its hands off religion governments ruled religion; and when they were not forcing submission to a state religion they were giving state religion privileges But Americans decided it was best to let people choose and follow their own faith religious establishment was dead everywhere Freedom of religion resulted from a combination of religious beliefs the commitment to the principle of religious freedom When the majority ceased to support any single religion What conclusions did you draw from your extensive research on the promise of equal rights in the Declaration The most profound conclusion is that America lives with a fundamental and inherent contradiction between individual rights and property rights because Americans regard property rights as integral to individual rights We believe it is our right to own property and our right to pass our property to our heirs But these beliefs ensure that so long as we have a system that enshrines those rights the United States will have tremendous inequality of wealth And as long as the United States has great inequalities of wealth Americans’ ability to realize rights will vary depending on wealth the conflict between equal rights and privilege or whether all Americans enjoy equal rights Our contradictions are built into our political DNA Editor’s Note: On July 4, 1821, then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams gave the following Independence Day speech if the wise and learned philosophers of the elder world the first observers of nutation and aberration the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets the inventors of Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature and the only lawful foundations of government held forth to them the hand of honest friendship though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings as to the last vital drop that visits the heart She has seen that probably for centuries to come all the contests of that Aceldama the European world Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all She is the champion and vindicator only of her own She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own were they even the banners of foreign independence she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force She might become the dictatress of the world She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is This has been her Declaration: this has been as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit John Quincy Adams was the eighth secretary of state of the United States and went on to become the sixth president Image: Wikicommons (Smithsonian Institution) Signing up for this newsletter means you agree to our data policy This image shows an 1876 engraving titled "Declaration of Independence 1776" made available by the Library of Congress the Continental Congress formally endorsed the Declaration of Independence Declaration of Independence — a document that contains offensive language about Native Americans Morning Edition has broadcast a reading of the Declaration of Independence by NPR staff as a way of marking Independence Day But after last summer's protests and our national reckoning on race the words in the document land differently It famously declares "that all men are created equal" even though women enslaved people and Indigenous Americans were not held as equal at the time What then follows is a long list of grievances and charges against King George III that outline the 13 North American British Colonies' intentions to separate from Great Britain The list, originally written largely by Thomas Jefferson, was edited by the Continental Congress. Among the Congress' changes: it deleted a reference to "Scotch & foreign mercenaries." It turns out there were members of Congress who were of Scottish descent the Congress removed criticism of the African slave trade Librarian of Congress James Billington points to a correction in the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson Imaging of the document confirmed that Jefferson originally wrote "subject" then changed it to "citizen." But a racist slur about Native Americans stayed in The passage charges that King George III "excited domestic insurrections" among the colonists by Native Americans who the founding document called "merciless Indian Savages." who is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation explains that this particular grievance refers to the idea that the British were But a deeper look at history also shows that one of the reasons why the colonists wanted to rise up against the British — and wage the Revolutionary War — was over the question of who would try to colonize Native lands west of the colonies "The crown wanted that money for themselves would have preferred to have it for themselves So the whole revolution was in large part fought over who got to take our stuff," he says He also notes that Native people helped the colonists in the Revolutionary War "It was the Oneida people who broke the famine at Valley Forge who taught the revolutionaries with George Washington how to process Indian corn so that it was digestible and nutritious," he says "So I think it's safe to say that war would been difficult to win without our help." When it comes to how the declaration's words land among Native Americans Treuer says that with more than 5 million people who identify as Indigenous there is a diversity of opinion and thought "We remain committed to forcing this country to live up to its own stated ideals." The declaration is a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies It also laid the foundation for our collective aspirations here again is the Declaration of Independence as read by NPR staff it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it 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 will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism and to provide new Guards for their future security.— Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States the most wholesome and necessary for the public good He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended he has utterly neglected to attend to them He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual and distant from the depository of their public Records for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone and the amount and payment of their salaries and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province establishing therein an Arbitrary government and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers is an undistinguished destruction of all ages In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity the Representatives of the United States of America appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our Lives The punctuation and spellings here match those posted online by the National Archives This audio story was produced by Barry Gordemer and for the web by Heidi Glenn Become an NPR sponsor Sometimes it becomes necessary for a group of people to declare their independence from a government they used to be connected to They have a right to do so under natural law though they should respectfully lay out the reasons for the separation It is obvious that all people have the right to equal treatment The only legitimate purpose of government is to make sure that these individual rights are protected and the only legitimate way for such governments to exist is for the people to consent to their existence if a government ever fails in its task to protect individual rights the people have the right to alter or abolish it and create a new government based on whatever principles they think best But we need to be careful not to be too quick to change or abolish long standing governments even though people will usually continue to suffer under unjust governments rather than take action to change an existing system that they are used to But when a government continually violates the rights of the people clearly and with the purpose of exercising absolute power over them the people have a right and duty to throw off that government That is exactly what has happened here in British America and which compels us to throw off the government of Great Britain The current King has continually violated our rights obviously intending to exercise absolute power over us The entire time we have humbly asked for these actions to stop A King who acts this way is not fit to be the ruler of a free people We have also told our fellow citizens in Britain about what has been happening here We have specifically warned them about what the government was up to and all that has happened since we immigrated here We have tried to remind them of our common bonds we have to treat them like we would any other people we as the Representatives of the United States of America appealing to the judgement of God for the purity of our intentions do in the name of the people declare that we are independent states that shall have no further political connection with Great Britain As independent states we have the power to engage in war and every other power that independent states possess Link IconCopy linkFacebook LogoShare on FacebookXShare on XEmailShare via EmailLink copied to clipboardIndependence annotated: How the Declaration of Independence both fails and guides 244 years after its signing | OpinionFor July 4th The Inquirer tapped six Philadelphians to offer their visions for how America’s founding document should be reimagined in the name of equality This Fourth of July weekend comes at an extraordinary moment with a country in upheaval — caught in the dual grip of a pandemic and a reckoning with the systemic racism that has been embedded since our founding we asked a number of Philadelphians to offer their visions for how that document might be revised or revisited to better deliver on its promise Our contributors include Anne Ishii of the Asian Arts Initiative who takes on the Founding Fathers’ promise of unity Lawyer and adjunct professor Michael Coard writes that “all men” were never equal in the United States—nor have we been granted “inalienable rights,” argues labor organizer Mindy Isser While the Founders enshrined “the pursuit of happiness” among those rights Inquirer columnist and WURD radio host Solomon Jones contends Americans have too long confused “happiness” with “property.” Then two writers consider the paths to change laid out by the declaration: how current protests centering Black life are highlighting the destructive nature of our government and Americans’ right to “alter or abolish” sources of power that fail the people—including police writes Harriett’s Bookshop owner Jeannine A click on highlighted sections of the declaration excerpt below The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights An excerpt from Frederick Douglass’ ‘What to the slave is the Fourth of July?’ | Editorial Is the Declaration of Independence still relevant? | Q&A Central Charge Service Credit Card—Effective 01/20/72, E The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum launched “We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence” today this multi-year oral history and education project explores when how and why women have sought independence in their own lives over the past 50 years Timed with the 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act the first series of oral histories commemorate this important historical milestone for women and their economic independence “We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence” will unfold over the next 18 months to feature several dozen oral histories and community stories of women from across the country educational resources and an online interactive experience The project will culminate in the summer of 2026 to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the country’s 250th anniversary—or semiquincentennial “With the 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act we are proud to enhance the historical record by hearing directly from women about their varied experiences with independence and economic empowerment and to share their stories with a wider audience,” said Elizabeth C director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum “As we look forward to establishing our future home on the National Mall we aim to inspire conversations that connect past achievements with future possibilities by listening to diverse women’s voices across generations.” conducted by project curator Rachel Seidman offer a glimpse into the history of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act the phenomenon of women’s banks that flourished in the decade after its passage and how access to credit was fundamental to women’s empowerment in the 1970s and beyond a former legislative fellow who helped write the Act; Rosemary Reed who founded a company with support from a women’s bank; Stephanie Lipscomb who worked at the Adams National Bank (formerly the First Women’s National Bank) one of the earliest and most successful American women’s banks in the 1970s; and Jeanne Delaney Hubbard who served as CEO of the Adams National Bank from 2005–2008 reynoldse@si.edu Liza Eliano (Brunswick Arts)        leliano@brunswickgroup.com Newsdesk RSS Research News RSS Link to homepage Sign up for Smithsonian e-news I’ve had the pleasure of being involved with a series of programs One of the co-sponsors of this is the America 250-Ohio Commission preparing for the 2026 celebration of our nation’s founding in the passage of the Declaration of Independence Todd Kleismit and his merry minions have been hard at work for a while getting us to think about what got started in 1776 It all warrants some deeper reflection this year when Richard Henry Lee introduced before the Continental Congress a resolution “that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states.” They appointed a Committee of Five to write an announcement explaining the reasons for declaring independence: John Adams Knapsack: A few recurring thoughts about education The delegates in Philadelphia had an idea of what they wanted to do but they needed a clear set of arguments for why they could in a world where monarchs and moguls held tight to the reins of power Jefferson’s intent in his initial draft was to establish the right of the United States of America to take a place “among the powers of the earth” as a free and independent nation The Declaration immediately points to “the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,” setting up a case in which it could be said “Nature’s God” had established a basis of truth beneath their rationale for independence from Great Britain they affirm: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Before we get to those truths let’s look at how they are known: by being “self-evident.” Jefferson appeals to the potential reader of this declaration and how any reasonable person might agree that it’s beyond obvious “that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights Knapsack: Arcades from Paris to Ohio — a pedestrian tour How self-evident is it that all of us are created equal You could make a case from experience that it’s evident some of us start with advantages and it’s been argued that this is the state of nature Jefferson has set you up to be tripped by a return to “Nature’s God,” pointing out that each soul is “endowed by their creator with certain … rights.” just as it is to many today: does every human person have an essence which is attached to or intrinsic within or endowed with an equal right to just treatment the vote was to affirm this somewhat radical concept and it turns out the world was ready to affirm it in many locations around the globe (even if it’s still up for debate in many quarters) There is no natural cannon fodder or appropriate victim class and Jefferson’s own vexed and mixed record on slavery is complicated by how he tried to put a criticism of slavery in his declaration but they were all removed by the time of final passage storyteller and preacher in central Ohio; he’s been thinking about the 250th anniversary of 1776 for a while now Tell him what you think an unalienable right is at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads or Bluesky 10pm Thursday AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: FLY WITH ME – DocumentarySee the women who changed the world while flying it Fly with Me features firsthand accounts and personal stories of pioneering flight attendants Fly With Me tells the story of the pioneering young women who became flight attendants at a time when single women were unable to order a drink own a credit card or get a prescription for birth control Becoming a “stewardess,” as they were called offered unheard-of opportunities for travel Although often maligned as feminist sellouts these women were on the frontlines of the battle to assert gender equality and transform the workplace personal stories and a rich archival record the film tells the lively and important but neglected history of the women who changed the world while flying it WATCH WLRN ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME WITH THE PBS VIDEO APP Stream your favorite PBS shows, create the perfect watchlist, watch the WLRN live stream and so much more. Plus, WLRN TV members can access an extended on-demand library of incredible programming with WLRN Passport, available through the PBS Video App. Download the PBS Video App for free now the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles).  Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people if man is not to be compelled to have recourse to rebellion against tyranny and oppression that human rights should be protected by the rule of law Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations to the end that every individual and every organ of society keeping this Declaration constantly in mind shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.  All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks Everyone has the right to freedom of thought conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief either alone or in community with others and in public or private to manifest his religion or belief in teaching Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers has the right to social security and is entitled to realization through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality Everyone has the right to rest and leisure including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein What is the Declaration of Human Rights? Narrated by Morgan Freeman The first animated version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created through the United Nations partnership with French digital artist YAK (Yacine Ait Kaci) – whose illustrated character Elyx is the first digital ambassador of the United Nations. The animation uses symbolic movements to bring to life the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Read the Illustrated edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Watch and listen to people around the world reading articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in more than 80 languages. Women delegates from various countries played a key role in getting women’s rights included in the Declaration. Hansa Mehta of India (standing above Eleanor Roosevelt) is widely credited with changing the phrase "All men are born free and equal" to "All human beings are born free and equal" in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker NEW YORK — Shauna Marie O'Toole is a transgender activist who has organized and attended countless rallies and lobbied New York State lawmakers for legal protections Convinced that "no amount of science" would win over opponents she decided that an "emotional statement" was needed one drawing upon words as rooted as any in American history "We hold these truths to be self-evident," O'Toole wrote that they are endowed by their government with certain unalienable Rights received hundreds of responses after she posted her Declaration of Transgender Independence online from expressions of support to suggestions that Thomas Jefferson would have thought she was crazy the original Declaration of Independence is more than an old document for students to memorize It's a starting point for seekers of social justice it symbolizes what we are willing to do to secure Liberty for ourselves and our posterity," she told The Associated Press in an email Historians debate what the slave-holding Jefferson and his fellow drafters meant by writing "all men are created equal," but the Declaration has inspired those not mentioned or even imagined in the text it has informed some of the country's defining rhetoric from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech while serving as a template for feminists and labor unions When Americans seek to appeal to the country's presumed ideals "When Jefferson made his famous statement about equality he did not really mean that we were created equal individually; the real point was that Americans had the same right to self-government as all other peoples," says Jack Rakove whose books include "Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America" and "Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 the equality statement acquired the aspirational purpose it has held ever since: that each of us is equal in legal status or moral weight or civic ability to everyone else," Rakove says author of "Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality," says that soon after 1776 abolitionists were mentioning the Declaration in their fight against slavery a curator of American history at the Library of Congress both cite the War of 1812 as heightening national pride and anxiety and reviving emotions about the country's past The Declaration took greater hold in the 1820s as Jefferson The Working Men's Declaration of Independence it becomes necessary for one class of a community to assert their natural and unalienable rights in opposition to other classes of their fellow men ..." The Socialist Labor Party stated in 1895 the despoiled class of wealth producers becomes fully conscious of its rights and determined to take them a decent respect to the judgment of posterity requires that it should declare the causes which impel it to change the social order." notes that Lincoln often mentioned the Declaration n speeches even before he was president Lincoln made a point of stopping at Independence Hall in Philadelphia where he told those gathered that he "never had a feeling politically that did not spring" from the Declaration of Independence "The Declaration is the cudgel he uses to beat his political opponents," Widmer says "We can be the kind of country that builds upon the Declaration of Independence and grants equality and rights or we can be a slave society." the Confederates cited the Declaration in asserting their right to secede Georgia's leaders borrowed from the Declaration in announcing that they had "dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America." In 1861 Stephens gave what was called the "Cornerstone" speech insisting his new government's "cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition." Abolitionists and civil rights speakers again and again drew upon the Declaration "Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in that Declaration of Independence extended to us?" Frederick Douglass asked in his famous 1852 address "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" In his "I Have a Dream" speech would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life and the pursuit of happiness." King read directly from the Declaration two years later 1965 speech at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in his recent Congressional testimony on whether the country should offer reparations for slavery and racial discrimination cited the Declaration as a reminder of a path untaken "Enslavement reigned for 250 years on these shores this country could've extended its hallowed principles — life liberty and the pursuit of happiness — to all "But America had other principles in mind." One of the earliest gatherings for women's rights in the U.S. concluded with a Declaration of Sentiments: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal." One of the country's first gay rights organizations the Chicago-based Society for Human Rights was founded in the 1920s "to promote and protect the interests of people who by reasons of mental and physical abnormalities are abused and hindered in the legal pursuit of happiness which is guaranteed them by the Declaration of Independence." Allen found the Declaration a useful framing for one of her own causes she wrote a column for The Washington Post about the criminal justice system She began with the familiar summoning of unalienable rights Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," before asking that "all legislation erecting the War on Drugs and turning the American people against one another ought to be totally dissolved; that the free and independent states and territories have full power to pursue narcotics control through the tools of public health policy." "The history of the present War on Drugs is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations," she wrote let Facts be submitted to a candid world." Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism An official website of the United States government A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website Share sensitive information only on official Emergency Information for American Citizens Deputy Minister for International Relations and Cooperation toast to the continued bilateral relations the United States will celebrate 248 years of independence nearly two and a half centuries of democracy it doesn’t matter whether it’s been a year we know that a successful democracy takes work but democracy is necessary to secure equality for all humanity our forebearers wrote an important phrase through which an understanding of American democracy must be viewed: that we formed our nation in pursuit of “a more perfect union.” To honor that enduring quest requires an honest understanding of our history Our Constitution states that we hold these truths to be self-evident But we know when those words were written in 1776 The Constitution didn’t take into account women or even indigenous people when talking about equality and inalienable rights It counted persons of African descent as “2/3” of a person It did not envision a future in which women would vote It also didn’t fully take into account the LGBTQIA+ community that’s not where the story ends – it’s only where it began the first black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968 famously said: “In the end and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing – anti-human.” what I believe is beautiful about the United States is how continue to strive to pursue that aspirational goal of a more perfect union Democracy requires tending and it requires maintenance; it exists because of our attention and care for the fundamental freedoms and rights that define it; it takes all of us Any nation can appropriate the phrase “democracy,” but repeating the words doesn’t make it real The reality of a democracy lies in its laws You may be wondering why we are holding our national day observation now we deliberatively wanted to draw a connection and honor the United States’ most recently recognized federal holiday and one with which you may not be familiar we celebrated the Federal holiday “Juneteenth,” which effectively marks the end of slavery in the United States We are celebrated Juneteenth for  only the  fourth time in our history since President Biden proclaimed the Federal holiday in 2021 history may point out that it was the Emancipation Proclamation Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863 it obviously could not be implemented in places  still under  Confederate  control – and our Civil War was to persist for  another two  years after that in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas Freedom finally came to Texas with the arrival of 2,000 Union troops in Galveston Bay on June 19 almost a century after the United States first declared its independence based on the belief that all men were created equal the  authorities announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were now free – effectively  free — by executive decree This marked the end of slavey in the United States and the day came to  be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas a struggle that took nearly a century more to  coalesce into the modern Civil Rights movement This holiday highlights that freedom  was not  just granted; people had to  fight for it the rule of law and strong inclusive institutions This holiday highlights that the United States understands its’ own complicated history and we understand that true equality is won through the efforts of individuals the core of  our path to  a more perfect union and thrives due to its rich and diverse cultures and peoples Our very Embassy here in Windhoek bears witness to that strength and backgrounds of those on our team that welcome you warmly here today and walks of life worked hard for that diversity and equality Some paid the ultimate price for their leadership towards equality: King The principles of the Civil Rights movement that drove a brave march across a bridge in Selma are the same principles that led to the historic birth of the modern Women’s Rights movement that started in Seneca Falls and the same values that sparked the Stonewall Rebellion that started in Greenwich Village These historic places and events are tied together in American history and reality by the principle of equality So today we celebrate the principles  that drive us towards  a more perfect union –­ a journey that quite clearly exists  without conclusion We will be aspiring in the same manner in another two and half centuries We celebrate this day in and with our fellow democracy the Republic of Namibia – and renew our commitment to a relationship built on democratic principles and the health and well-being of both our peoples a prominent leader advocating for gender equality but her words are still relevant: “the history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality.” I’d like you to join me in raising a glass to toast the health and well-being of the President of the Republic of Namibia to the vibrancy of the relationship between the Republic of Namibia and the United States of America health and happiness of all of the residents of the Land of the Brave The latest Department of State travel updates and guidance on travel.state.gov Have an emergency? 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'personalization_storage': cmplz_in_array( 'preferences' 'analytics_storage': cmplz_in_array( 'statistics' 'ad_user_data': cmplz_in_array( 'marketing' 'ad_personalization': cmplz_in_array( 'marketing' as the TM template needs to be sure it's cmplz_ Editor's note: In honor of Independence Day — this year we mark 245 years since the United States parted with Great Britain — we present the nation's founding document Last year, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Daniel Prude and the failures of the Trump administration, we shared our view that the United States has not always lived up to the Declaration's creed. Further we believe the national conversation on racial equity and justice must force the nation to finally and truly embrace the notions of universal liberty and equality American can — and must — ensure that all its people can embrace their inalienable rights of life The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: the Representatives of the united States of America and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States By Rebecca Burgess The Weekly Standard Democratic state representatives Barbara Norton and Pat Smith argued that it would be unfair for school children to recite the Declaration because “all men are not created equal,” and because the principles of American government that the equality principle gives life to “were used against races of people.” Both legislators seem to invoke the existence of slavery in 1776 as proof positive of the offensiveness of the Declaration’s sentiments what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men Lincoln also had these words about Thomas Jefferson in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression Jefferson had to be nearly cudgeled by his fellow delegates to the Continental Congress in 1776 to strike an invective against King George from the Declaration’s original draft which assailed him not just for condoning the practice of slavery but for preventing the American Colonies from passing legislation to prohibit it: He [the king of Britain] has waged cruel war against human nature itself violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere… Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce many of the Founders were hypocrites when it came to slavery it was a hypocrisy whose tension rested between a firm belief in the truth of the Declaration’s principles and the wall of slavery’s long-standing practice in the South—a practice they understood as resting on positive law but nothing more Southerners of the founding generation understood that the political logic of the Revolution pointed inexorably to the eventual abolition of slavery for the blacks as well The more that Americans based their arguments on the natural rights of all men as the Revolution proceeded that enslavement of blacks was also unjust slavery “takes the property of another without his consent.” there would be no Emancipation Proclamation The popular narrative about American history for the past few decades conveniently glosses over the historic reality that in fact it took a counterrevolution against the Declaration’s principles well after the Constitutional Convention to continue and grow the institution of slavery At the time of the ratification of the Constitution 10 out of 13 states had suffrage for blacks—but by the late 1830’s it was people such as Senator John Calhoun and Alexander Stephens who were bluntly proclaiming that slavery was a “positive good” because “nothing can be more unfounded and false [than] the prevalent opinion that all men are born free and equal.” It was Lincoln’s appeal back to the Declaration’s principles of equality that chartered his course to preserve the Union and the experiment of self-government Did slavery exist at the American founding But did the Declaration of Independence enable slavery The Declaration substantiated an argument for the first time about the equal right to liberty of all human beings that directly undermined the institution of slavery The political principle had to be first declared so that the political will would follow We do a disservice to our nation’s founders when we ungenerously lambaste them for not being perfect But we do a far greater disservice to our political future when we lambaste the very principle of our political and social life: that justice is the measurement of how well our laws and institutions maintain the equal right of all to life and to liberty my 13-year-old daughter asked me: "Dad Are we moving to Spain?" I have reflected on her words since trying to understand how the perception of one's country I have realized that for the United States today the Declaration of Independence remains the best hope to make this the most welcoming country in the world it also represents a big obstacle to achieve that goal the signing of the Declaration of Independence not only gave birth to the United States of America but also was the genesis of one of the most powerful foundation myths of any nation that "all men are created equal" and that "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are man's unalienable rights The Declaration has fueled the American Dream to this day: Immigrants like me continue to see in those inspiring words a path for opportunity those words have also served as a statement for racial equality that has repeatedly been invoked in civil rights movements something important to acknowledge: The Founding Fathers had more limited aspirations in their Declaration than what we want to see today There is a difference between what the Declaration actually says and what the Founding Fathers meant to say Many of the signatories of the Declaration were slaveholders who considered black men their property and Native Americans were only referred to in the Declaration as "Indian Savages." Also the Founding Fathers' initial idea of who controlled the rights described in the Declaration was the very small circle of male Anglo Protestant land owners that they represented the Declaration's signatories also established who was entitled to claim it as theirs and black and Native American people were explicitly left outside the circle the history of this country is their struggle trying to enter into that initially small circle can be considered the first outsider to sneak in Catholics were barred from entering politics or even voting at the time but he was given a seat at the table because of his enormous wealth and his alliance with independence ideals — still today wealth and sharing ideas with the establishment opens doors to minorities The Founding Fathers made it very clear at the beginning that white Protestant landowners — not the people — were in charge of deciding who will have a voice in the new nation's government some reluctantly) allowed other groups of people inside the circle slowly granting equal rights to "outsiders" as they saw fit It is not an easy thing to do because humans are naturally inclined to protect their circle and to be on guard against outsiders Jews and Catholics have endured discrimination on religious grounds just like most ethnic immigrant groups (Italians etc.) on the basis of their religion or simply being perceived as "culturally different." Some groups have slowly entered inside the circle — Italian Americans Irish Americans and Jewish Americans are now comfortably inside White America — but other groups continue to struggle and can suddenly become suspect in a dark moment in our history during the second World War tens of thousands of innocent American citizens were rounded up and put in internment camps just because their Japanese background Donald Trump has invoked precisely those policies by President Franklin D Roosevelt to justify his proposed ban on Muslims ignoring the fact that the US government has officially apologized for those discriminatory actions Trump has questioned the ability of an American federal judge (born in Indiana) to do his job because his Mexican heritage making clear that he does not see this judge as a fellow American Fear from those inside the circle has legitimized other troubling chapters in American history when our nation embraced eugenics and put in place the so called "racial betterment programs." These repressive policies were developed to reverse fears of what President Theodore Roosevelt called "race suicide" or the dwindling of the Anglo-American stock (at the time even Southern and Eastern Europeans were considered inferior races) The ideas of racial superiority were championed by renowned professors from Yale and Harvard and produced government policies that ranged from preventing immigration from undesirable ethnic groups to segregation and forced sterilization These policies — meant to guarantee political control for the descendants of the Founding Fathers — were slowly abandoned after the world discovered the horrendous results of their extreme implementation by Germany during the Holocaust The fact that American thinkers helped to provide the intellectual foundations for Hitler's racial cleansing policies was swept under the rug and now Americans hardly know about it Those same fears have manifested themselves today in Trump's presidential campaign Trump is turning entire groups of people (Mexicans His overt bigotry appeals to those Americans that an idealized version of the America of the Founding Fathers They are just not comfortable with the prominence gained by people considered "outsiders" not long ago Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" is also tapping on that nostalgic appeal what Great America from the past is Trump proposing to emulate Is it the America of racial segregation of 50 years ago Or the America of 100 years ago where women had no right to vote This year's presidential race it is indeed a timely opportunity for Americans to reflect on the foundation myth of the nation and what the Declaration means today Many seem interested in hanging on to the Founding Fathers' original idea that America belongs to a selective group of people hopefully more people will embrace instead the idealism and inclusiveness found in the actual words of the Declaration Juan Miró Communication, community, and education are our top priorities. is a time to reflect on the birth of the United States and the values that have shaped its history many influential figures have articulated the spirit of American independence through powerful and memorable quotes These words continue to inspire and remind us of the principles on which the nation was founded Here are some famous quotes about America’s independence that capture the essence of liberty Thomas Jefferson’s words from the Declaration of Independence encapsulate the core ideals of the American Revolution These principles of equality and individual rights have become the foundation of American democracy Patrick Henry’s impassioned speech to the Virginia Convention in 1775 became a rallying cry for American independence His declaration underscored the colonists’ willingness to fight for their freedom and reject British rule Thomas Jefferson’s quote highlights the ongoing struggle to maintain freedom and the sacrifices required to preserve it It serves as a reminder that liberty is not easily won or kept an American spy captured by the British during the Revolutionary War His bravery and dedication to the cause of independence have made him an enduring symbol of American patriotism recognized the swift and transformative power of liberty His leadership helped guide the fledgling nation through its early years of independence Benjamin Franklin’s succinct yet profound statement reflects his deep commitment to the principles of freedom and his belief in the new nation’s potential Jefferson’s metaphor emphasizes that the path to maintaining liberty is often tumultuous the pursuit of freedom is a continual and vital endeavor Mahatma Gandhi’s words resonate deeply with the American ethos of freedom The ability to make mistakes and learn from them is an integral part of individual liberty and democratic society who led the nation through the Civil War and abolished slavery emphasized the moral imperative of ensuring freedom for all His leadership and vision helped redefine the nation’s commitment to liberty and equality The renowned American poet Robert Frost captured the essence of freedom as an active and courageous pursuit His words inspire individuals to take bold actions in the name of liberty these quotes serve as a powerful reminder of the values and sacrifices that have defined America’s journey and unwavering commitment to freedom that characterize the American spirit we honor the legacy of those who fought for independence and continue to inspire future generations to uphold the principles of liberty and justice let these quotes enrich your Fourth of July celebrations reminding us all of the enduring significance of America’s independence You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience Philadelphia has a long history of fighting for LGBTQ civil rights Philadelphia protests seeking equality for LGBTQ people predate the famed Stonewall riots demonstrators picketed at Independence Hall on July 4 The “Annual Reminder” protests pointed out that LGBTQ Americans did not have basic civil rights protections The protests were among the earliest for LGBTQ rights in the United States These marches – along with Stonewall in 1969 and the first Gay Pride Parade in 1970 – turned a grass roots campaign into a civil rights movement (Masthead photo: Group protest at Independence Hall – Photo by Joseph T Courtesy of Temple University Digital Collection Barbara Gittings was a key organizer of the July 4 protests as the mother of the LGBTQ civil rights movement the first widely circulated lesbian journal Her activism was influential in the American Psychiatric Association ending its classification of homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973 Gittings helped start the ongoing fight to end workplace discrimination against LGBTQ people She spoke at Philadelphia’s first gay pride event in 1972 the parade for which fittingly ended at Independence Hall Historical markers recognize the role of both Independence Hall and Gittings’ home in the fight for LGBTQ equal rights Gittings’ home is part of the Rittenhouse Fitler Historic District Photo: Barbara Gittings is shown here picketing at the 1969 Annual Reminder at Independence Hall Despite signing both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and being one of six original justices appointed to the Supreme Court James Wilson is not often thought of as a leading light among Americas founders One explanation for this is that Wilsons time on the Supreme Court was not especially noteworthy; only nine cases were heard during his tenure Wilson may be best remembered for being the first and only Supreme Court justice to be jailed while on the court He spent time in two separate debtors prisons in the late 18th century before dying in 1798 at the age of 55 in a lecture last week to the Supreme Court Historical Society illuminated Wilsons significant role in the drafting and modern understanding of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence Justice Elena Kagan introduced Ewald after recounting how he was recommended to her by Elizabeth Warren then a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Kagan came to realize that Ewalds academic prowess proved Senator Warren right Realizing the implication of what she had said Wilson was born and educated in Scotland before coming to Pennsylvania in 1765 at the age of 23 He would apprentice for John Dickenson before playing a leading intellectual role in the American Revolution Ewalds lecture focused on Wilsons impact on both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence Ewald explained that the popular misunderstanding of Wilson is due in part to the limited records he left behind Unlike other Founding Fathers surviving papers which were politically significant and were later preserved and analyzed many of Wilsons are remarkably banal financial documents and contracts Wilsons influence on the Constitution was fairly straightforward He was the principal drafter and perhaps the driving force on the Committee on Detail which filled in the gaps in the broad constitutional framework agreed upon at the 1787 convention Ewald pointed out that the committee did far more than just fill in legal technicalities: It provided the enumeration of federal powers and supremacy clauses in Article I designed much of the presidency and defined the jurisdiction of the federal courts The vast majority of the committees work went directly into the final Constitution without significant revisions from the convention at large the infamous Three-Fifths Compromise between northern and southern states under which each slave was counted as three-fifths of a person in calculating the population of a state to apportion congressional representation Ewald explained in a follow-up email that James Madison had originally proposed that rate of counting slaves relative to the free population for purposes of taxation suggested using the formula for representation as well Ewald explained the decision as pragmatic; the Convention would have come to a rapid end if [Wilson] had pushed for abolition the Constitution that was enacted and ratified may have resembled Wilsons preconception of it more closely than those of the other Founding Fathers The final document had a stronger central government than Southern founders like Thomas Jefferson and Madison desired yet was more democratic and egalitarian than Alexander Hamilton preferred a major proponent of the principle of one-man-one-vote because the document was far too complex for any one person to have been its prime mover that Parliament did not have authority over the American colonies above what they could enjoy in an independent and unconnected state of nature that the happiness of the society is the first law of every government Ewald noted that is it clear that Jefferson who copied other passages from Wilson into his own writings used Wilsons words as a direct source for the famous line in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence which in Jeffersons rough draft read: We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable & liberty & the pursuit of happiness the concept of America being founded on the basis of human freedom and equality was not especially important to most of the Founding Fathers Jefferson never used the phrase created equal in any of his writings from 1776 until his death in 1826 John Adams and many other Founding Fathers the phrase was seldom used in American discourse before the middle of the 19th century when the abolitionists began citing it to justify ending slavery it is now part of perhaps the most iconic line in the Declaration of Independence a shift that Ewald cited to argue that the Declaration can only be analyzed as a living document was well ahead of his peers in understanding the importance of human equality in the American Revolution During the Pennsylvania debates over whether or not to ratify the Constitution Wilson quoted the entire second sentence of the Declaration of Independence and added [T]his is the broad basis on which our independence was placed; on the same certain and solid foundation this system [of the US Constitution] is erected Wilson intended to draw an explicit link among the Declaration which no other delegate did during any ratification debates Why was Wilson so far ahead of his contemporaries Ewald argued that the answer could lie in Wilsons Scottish roots which were unique among the great thinkers of the Revolution Scotland still thought of itself as a colony of England in the 18th century when Wilson was growing up and being educated Wilsons different philosophical [and] analytical background may have engendered his radical view of the egalitarian basis for Americas founding This post has been corrected to reflect the fact that Thomas Jefferson was not a delegate at the ConstitutionalConvention he was serving as minister to France at the time Posted in Supreme Court history Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent Millions of people around the world know the stirring words of the Declaration of Independence announcing that "all men are created equal" and that they have the rights to "Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." But relatively few know that among the grievances the Declaration enumerates as justification for renouncing allegiance to King George III is the following: He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither… This complaint against the King was aimed at a series of royal orders issued in  1772 and 1773 which forbade the colonies from naturalizing aliens banned the passage of any laws facilitating that purpose and overrode a North Carolina law exempting immigrants from Europe from taxation for a period of four years It's tempting to dismiss this as just a disagreement over policy since it is one of the items on the list of "repeated injuries and usurpations all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States." The King's efforts to restrict immigration to Britain's American colonies were not just a flawed policy but a step towards the "establishment of an absolute Tyranny." Nor was it merely a tyranny over the colonial governments' supposed right to determine immigration policy for themselves It was also a tyrannical action towards the would-be immigrants but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions." The idea of accepting immigrants without regard to their national origin and religion was an extension of the more general principle that the United States was founded on the basis of universal liberal principles, not ties of ancestry, culture, or faith This is what the Declaration refers to in the famous passage avowing that all men are created equal and have the rights to life There can be no such liberty and equality if where people are allowed to live is limited by their parentage and place of birth. Just as the leaders of the Revolution rejected more traditional hereditary aristocracy, their principles were also at odds with what we might today call the hereditary aristocracy of citizenship under which only those born to the right parents or in the right place have a right to live in the United States while all others can be excluded for virtually any reason the government might come up with When Jefferson became president in 1801, he allowed the Act to expire, and federal immigration policy remained almost completely free of restrictions until the enactment of racially motivated exclusionary laws targeting Chinese immigrants in the 1870s and 1880s The successful resistance to the Alien Acts was a triumph for liberty and equality that deserves to be far better known than it currently is None of this proves that America's founding generation was free of prejudices against immigrants sought to use the Alien Friends Act to deport many immigrants fearing that they might spread French revolutionary ideas to the United States and - perhaps even worse from the Federalist point of view -  support the rival Democratic-Republican Party Despite his defense of open immigration on many occasions, Thomas Jefferson wrote, in his 1782 Notes on Virginia that America had reason to fear immigrants from "absolute monarchies," because "[t]hey will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness from one extreme to another." As with many later Americans who feared that immigrants would spread harmful political political values Jefferson did not give sufficient weight to the reality that people fleeing oppressive regimes usually do so precisely because they abhor those governments not because they want to recreate them elsewhere Jefferson rejected the idea of barring immigrants from oppressive governments instead recognizing that "[i]f they come of themselves they are entitled to all the rights of citizenship." He merely  "doubt[ed] the expediency of inviting them by extraordinary encouragements." Later Jefferson took a more favorable view of the political impact of immigrants - perhaps because many of them supported him and his party Restrictions on naturalization did not amount to restrictions on immigration itself. Black  immigrants came to the United States in substantial numbers even when many of them were ineligible for  citizenship, beginning with numerous refugees from Haiti in the 1790s black immigrants in this era suffered severe discrimination as did native-born free African-Americans (to say nothing of the millions of slaves) the principles of the Declaration of Independence did lead to the establishment of a nation that and thus became a refuge for millions of people fleeing poverty and tyranny Jefferson and Washington were far from the only ones who saw a connection between openness to immigration and America's founding principles of liberty and equality. The great African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass made much the same point in an 1869 speech in which he compared immigration restrictions to racial discrimination and argued that America must be a "composite nation" open to to people of all races and cultures who wished to settle there Abraham Lincoln, who was a strong supporter of open immigration,  also saw the connection between immigrant rights and the Declaration of Independence: When [immigrants] look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal"; and then they feel that that moral sentiment evidences their relation to those men… and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood of the men who wrote that Declaration; and so they are On immigration, as elsewhere, we would do well to heed Lincoln's admonition that the Declaration "set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all: constantly looked to and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup Ilya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason University, and author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom and Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Bitte aktiviere Javascript in deinem Browser und lade die Seite dann erneut SEITE NEU LADEN  Being a Mennonite on the Fourth of July is a bit like watching a concert from the simulcast room but you’re not fully engaged in it; there’s a separation growing up in this pacifist Christian denomination that separation extended to patriotic traditions such as saying the Pledge of Allegiance at school or singing the national anthem at a baseball game — my family and I would stand quietly and respectfully rather than join in Richmonder Grant Rissler grew up in the Mennonite tradition Both of our parents served in Mennonite mission programs in Africa I spent some of my early early years in Malawi where my dad taught secondary school during the late 1960s as a form of alternative service during the Vietnam War; Rissler was born in Nairobi in 1976 after his parents and other Westerners were expelled from Somalia His family moved back to the United States (to the Shenandoah Valley) when he was 2 he attended the American School of Mogadishu with students from 16 nationalities Rissler with his host family in the Dominican Republic Rissler helped lead a Work and Learn team with the MCC organization which helped with cleanup and rebuilding efforts after the devastating earthquake in Haiti All of this is to say that he is well-versed in the ways of Mennonites and has had ample opportunity to see things from the point of view of those outside the United States influenced the direction of his life and work Getting back to the question of Mennonite attitudes toward patriotism “A lot of the complexity flows from a two-kingdom theological perspective Christians are called to follow the wisdom of God and Jesus’ teaching more than the teaching of a nation.” When the United States is in conflict with another nation it can create tension for someone who holds those beliefs “Many Mennonites would see serving in the military or using violence as contrary to Jesus’ teaching to turn the other cheek,” Rissler says Some callers were angry that MCC would engage with someone from the “axis of evil,” as then-U.S refusing to talk to them is a strange way of living that out.”   Mennonites in the United States — including those in my family as well as Rissler’s —  have sought to avoid military service by becoming conscientious objectors and working in alternative service programs Some of my ancestors came to the United States from Switzerland to escape religious persecution linked to their pacifist beliefs Mennonites also emigrated from Northern Germany to Russia where they were invited to farm the land and promised that they wouldn’t have to take up arms Many were immigrants who still spoke German there’s an impulse to paint the enemy with a broad brush.” All you have to do is listen to some of the current political rhetoric to see that broad brush being applied to American Muslims. Through the Richmond Peace Education Center and Richmond Mennonite Fellowship, Rissler supports the annual RVA Peace Festival (planned for Sept an interfaith effort begun in the wake of the 9/11 attacks “It’s an event here that says we’re going to stand with Muslims who are part of our community and [that] broad stereotyping of groups is not part of the values we want to celebrate including freedom of religion and equal rights for all nationalities and creeds.” “I always try to preserve a little bit of what would be an outsider’s perspective as well as wanting to reflect on the positive things that fall under the national celebration.” On Independence Day that includes “the grand experiment of democracy and the gradual expansion of freedom the expansion of rights for women — those are worth [commemorating].” he’s mindful of the effects of the United States’ actions and how those are seen outside our borders “Being an American in the Dominican Republic or Haiti Cuba or Puerto Rico is to learn to live with the fact that your country has invaded and taken away sovereignty.” but sometimes it feels like being part of a family you married into.” You belong A hello from Tina: Though I'm sad to see my colleague Tina Griego leave us I'm looking forward to continuing the tradition of telling Richmond's stories in this column As an editor at Richmond magazine since 2009 I was an editor on the state/metro desk at the Richmond Times-Dispatch I plan to look for stories related to RVA's faith community and social justice and I also hope to explore some of the region's unseen universes Captions and QuotesIndia will be celebrating its 78th Independence Day on August 15 This historic event honours the end of an enduring struggle against British rule As the country honours its independence heroes and looks forward to a better future this year's celebration will be a lively tapestry woven with strands of patriotism Around the nation, people celebrate Independence Day 2024 with great enthusiasm The Prime Minister of India addresses the country at the major ceremony The speech addresses the government's future intentions and encourages citizens to work towards building a more powerful and prosperous India.  and patriotic music infuse the air with happiness and harmony Special events are arranged by schools and universities to foster a sense of patriotism in the younger generation.  #WATCH | Preparations underway at Delhi's Red Fort ahead of Independence Day, August 15India will be commemorating its 78th Independence Day this year pic.twitter.com/BkM2cyc5br READ| Happy Independence 2024: 50+ Images, Photos and Pictures to Share with Friends and Family READ| Viksit Bharat: A Deep Dive into India's Economic Transformation READ| India Independence Day 2024: 70+ Quotes, Wishes, Messages, Greetings to Wish Your Friends and Family let us reflect on the amazing legacy our independence fighters left behind These courageous people left behind slogans and quotations that are more than just catchphrases as they capture the spirit of our country and serve as a constant reminder of the price paid for freedom.  and persistence that has moulded India's development throughout the years Let us remember the past while also looking forward to a bright future where equality and freedom will always be our guiding principles READ| Important Days in August 2024: National and International Dates List Independence Day 2024 Questions and Answers Quiz: Top Indian National Movement GK Questions Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign 2024: Key Details, Objectives, Significance, Date for UPSC Exam Nikhil comes from a commerce background, but his love for writing led him on a different path. With more than two years of experience as a content writer, he aspires to breathe life into words. He completed his B.Com. from DU and finds joy in traveling and exploring new and hidden places. Do drop your feedback for him at nikhil.batra@jagrannewmedia.com and let him know if you love his work Latest Stories What is the Most Dangerous Animal on Earth? It's Not a Lion or an Orca Whale! Mock Drill in India: What is it and How Does It Work? Check Full List of States and Cities Only the sharpest brains can solve this riddle in 6 seconds! Rajasthan Board Result 2025: Check RBSE Class 10th, 12th Result Expected Release Date & Time at rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in MP ESB Teacher Answer Key 2025 Released at esb.mp.gov.in, Check MP Middle and Primary Teacher Provisional Answer Key PDF Here Bihar CHO Online Application Form 2025: बिहार सीएचओ के लिए ऑनलाइन आवेदन शुरू, ये रहा लिंक What is the Most Dangerous Animal on Earth? It's Not a Lion or an Orca Whale! MP Board Result 2025 OUT LIVE: mpresults.nic.in पर जारी 10वीं में प्रज्ञा और 12वीं में प्रियल टॉपर, किसे मिले कितने मार्क्स, देखें MPBSE मार्कशीट, ये जिला रहा फिसड्डी Mock Drill in India: What is it and How Does It Work? Check Full List of States and Cities Only the sharpest brains can solve this riddle in 6 seconds! NYT Connections Hints May 6 2025: Check Clues and Answers to Solve Today’s Puzzle Game IIT Madras Launches Free AI Courses for Students and Working Professionals at SWAYAM PLUS: Check Details Here TNDTE Typewriting Result 2025 OUT at tndtegteonline.in, Download Result and Marksheet here BIS Recruitment 2025: बीआईएस में साइंटिस्ट बी के पदों पर निकली रिक्ति, यहाँ देखें आवेदन प्रक्रिया Rajasthan Board Result 2025: जानें कब आएगा RBSE राजस्थान 10th, 12th का रिजल्ट, देखें क्या है लेटेस्ट अपडेट Word Puzzle: Can you Create a New Word from this Anagram? Teacher’s Appreciation Week 2025: What is the History, and Significance and Where Are Freebies Offered on this Day? RRB Paramedical Answer Key 2025 OUT at rrb.digialm.com, Check Para Medical Candidate Response Sheet PDF and Objection Details Here कौन हैं प्रज्ञा जायसवाल, जिन्होंने MP Board 10वीं में किया टॉप, यहां देखें मार्कशीट Bihar CHO Vacancy 2205 Apply Online Begins at shs.bihar.gov.in, Check Eligibility, Last Date and More Here BOI SO Exam Date 2025 Out: Check Officer Scale 2, 3 & 4 Exam Date and Timings MP Board 12th Result 2025 Roll Number and Name: अभी एमपी बोर्ड का रिजल्ट रोल नंबर और नाम से करें चेक Still, it is a valuable feature of our country that we do not mark its birth by a celebrating a triumph of force. On what day did the Revolutionary War begin? When did the British surrender at Yorktown? What date was the Treaty of Paris signed? Unless you make your living teaching American history or playing “Jeopardy,” you probably don’t know the answers to these questions. But you do know when the Declaration of Independence was written. The Declaration did not create a nation. It created only the idea of a nation, and that idea, as its scope and meaning have evolved over time, is what we annually pay our respects to. All who live here are equal. All who live here have the same rights. None who lives here is above the law. In some years, loyalty to those principles seems like something we can take for granted. This year, on the two hundred and forty-third birthday of our founding document, not so much. We don’t flood you with panic-inducing headlines or race to be first We focus on being useful to you — breaking down the news in ways that inform We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen discusses the US’s founding by Ezra Klein LinkDanielle Allen will change how you think about the Declaration of Independence. Neilson Barnard/Getty ImagesMy first conversation with Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen on The Ezra Klein Show in fall 2019 was one of my all-time favorites I didn’t expect to have Allen on again so soon but her work is unusually relevant to our current moment driven by watching her cousin go through it and motivated by his murder This is a wide-ranging conversation for a wide-ranging moment Allen and I discuss what “all men are created equal” really means why the myth of Thomas Jefferson’s sole authorship of the Declaration of Independence muddies its message the role of police brutality in the American Revolution democracy reforms such as ranked-choice voting how to deal with a Republican Party that opposes expanding democracy the various pandemic response paths before us the failure of political leadership in this moment An edited excerpt from our conversation follows. The full conversation can be heard on The Ezra Klein Show. What do we get wrong about the Declaration of Independence? The first thing we get wrong is the notion that we should focus on Thomas Jefferson as the author. He put on his tombstone “author, the Declaration of Independence.” That was a real self-aggrandizing gesture. In fact, he was just the scribe. The intellectual work of the declaration was driven significantly by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. That’s an important thing to say out loud because Adams is someone who never owned slaves and Franklin was somebody who was an enslaver earlier in his life but repudiated enslavement and became a vocal advocate of abolition. Both Adams and Franklin were in a different place on enslavement than Jefferson was. That matters. The Declaration of Independence fed straight into abolitionist movements and efforts. It was the basis of a text that was submitted in Massachusetts in January 1777 moving forward abolition, and abolition had been achieved already in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania by the early 1770s and 1780s. When we focus on Jefferson, we get one part of America’s story — the story of the slaveholding South. We don’t get the part of the story which was about how abolitionism was developing already, even in the 18th century. That’s part of our story in history, too. We should see it and tell it. That’s a corrective to something that I’ve bought into myself, which is that the central story of the Declaration of Independence is one of hypocrisy — at the same time these beautiful ideals were being written, they were being betrayed. What you seem to be saying is that this story is only partial — that feeding into the Declaration Independence was conscious abolitionist intent. Yes, there was already conscious abolitionist intention by the 1770s. The person who is famous for having coined the “no taxation without representation” argument, James Otis, had already in 1760 written a powerful pamphlet against enslavement. So there was a strand of revolutionary thought that worked its way all the way through to seeing the need for the end of enslavement. Thomas Paine was another figure of whom that’s true. So there is a sort of bifurcation between this notion that rights pertain to everybody and the question of who would actually have access to political power and be able to control political institutions. What do you mean when you say the declaration is “best read as an ordinary memo”? At the end of the day, human life and human organization depends on people being able to coordinate around a shared plan. And in order to coordinate around a shared plan, you have to make that plan memorable. That was the job of the Decoration of Independence. They had this set of colonies with extended lines of communication where it could take weeks for a message to travel from the north to the south end, and they needed somehow to be able to move together. So they had a moment of punctuation that memorialized for everybody what their purpose was: What were they trying to do together? That’s the sense in which it’s a memo. Memo is short for the Latin word memorandum, which is the thing that must be remembered. That’s the sense in which it’s just like any other ordinary office memo that’s seeking to coordinate the actions of disparate people. In your view, what does the memo say? What is the argument the declaration actually makes? It’s pretty straightforward. It’s a group of people who look around and say, we don’t like this world. So it starts, “When in the course of human events.” It’s a diagnosis of a problematic state of affairs. So it’s a diagnosis and a prescription of a forward path based on independence. It’s also a justification of that self-governing action, that choice of their own, on the grounds that human beings are best off when they can govern themselves. One of the arguments you make in the book is that the declaration is often read as an argument for freedom over equality, but, in your view, its fundamental point is that there is no freedom in the absence of equality. Can you talk about how one of those views came to predominate over the other and why you hold the one you do? In the 18th century, when people thought about self-government, they often described it as a product of free and equal self-governing citizens. Free and equal always went together. In order to be free, you actually had to be able to play a role in your local institutions. You had to have equal standing as a decision-maker. So freedom and equality were mutually reinforcing. That concept of self-government predates the 19th century and the Industrial Revolution, and the remarkable transformations of the global economy achieved by industrialization and modern capitalism. As the economy transformed, as you saw the immiseration of populations in industrial centers, the question of equality came to have a different balance. There was a new question on the table: How does economic structure interact with freedom and with equality? But what that debate between those two physical systems did was obscure the fact that at their core, freedom and equality have to be linked to each other. You can’t actually have freedom for all unless most people have equal standing relationship to each other. That’s a political point in the first question. And then you fold in economic issues by asking the question: If we need to achieve equal political standing, then what kind of economic structure do we need to deliver that? I think it is possible to have market structures that are compatible with egalitarian distributive outcomes. I think you need an egalitarian economy. You don’t need, strictly speaking, an equal distribution of material goods in order to support the kind of political equality that gives people equal standing and of shared ownership of political institutions. Let’s hold on that idea of political equality versus economic equality. When people hear “we’re all created equal” or “we all are equal,” the mind naturally jumps to the places where we’re not. Some people are taller than others. Some people are born into a different station than others. The list goes on. Your argument in the book is that equality here means something different — it’s a way of relating to one another, not a way of equalizing against each other. Can you talk about what that difference is? Do you see any parallels between the protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the American Revolution? The American Revolution was massively fueled by resentment of the arbitrary use of police power on the part of the British. The writs of assistance, for example, in Boston were rules that gave British customs officers the right to search people without any specific reason for searching them. It was stop-and-frisk in the 18th century, basically. In other words, arbitrary use of police power was at the core of the American Revolution. Arbitrary use of police power and excessive penalty in our criminal justice system have been at the center of many people’s attention for quite a period of time now. In the declaration, they say, all of our petitions have just been met by repeated injury. Such has been the experience for the last decade too, I think, for people who’ve been working on police reform and reimagining of our justice and public safety system. So I think there’s a lot of continuity. There’s a really strong sense of what rights should be protected and what it means not to have basic rights protected. There’s a strong sense of what it means to have invested public authorities with power. Why do we invest them with power? Mainly so they can secure our rights. So when the power is turned around and not used to secure our rights, then the social contract itself, the original compact, has been breached. So I think everything we’re watching is fully recognizable and understandable in the original terms of the revolution and the declaration and Constitution. Is there a tension in the way America views itself in terms of how we celebrate the moment of revolution and the ultimately violent uprisings that met the abuse of British power against Americans — and the fact that there is intense pressure to keep the protests today peaceful, and any deviation from that is seen as inherently illegitimate? I think there’s a necessary tension that comes out of being a society born in revolution. At the end of the day, to be a successful society is to avoid revolution. So we have to celebrate as our origin something that every society also wishes to avoid. In the Declaration of Independence, there’s this distinction drawn between altering the government and abolishing it and establishing a new one. That distinction in the declaration is used to justify a full-scale revolution, but it simultaneously points to the idea that the sustainability of constitutional democracy is going to have to focus instead on this concept of alteration. So the question really is, can you achieve internal capacity in your institutions and social structures to make alteration a real possibility from one generation to the next? We should all know from the get-go that we live in a world that has made an alteration one of its fundamental necessities in an ongoing way. And I think that’s the kind of proposition being tested now. It’s past due time for alteration in our administration of justice, in our approach to public safety. So let’s figure out what capacity for alteration we have. Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day, compiled by news editor Sean Collins. To defend democracy, the courts must rule in favor of a lawmaker who bullied a high school student. Trump’s latest executive order presents a test for Democrats. Don’t blame Joe Rogan too much — one theory says that the roots of this gender gap go back decades. 5 million Americans are facing having their loans sent to collections. Auto workers supported tariffs to protect their jobs. They caused layoffs instead. The most surprising consequence of Trump’s trade war. Stephen Meyer has written here about how the ideas framed by the Declaration of Independence the “sources of our rights as citizens,” are rooted in design thinking There is one source that is more basic than any other yet that receives less than the attention it deserves I refer to the idea that there is an intelligent creator who can be known by reason from nature a key tenet underlying the Declaration of Independence — as well as that’s no coincidence given the design thinking of the document’s main author: “Jefferson himself thought that there was scientific evidence for design in nature,” as he indicated himself in writing to John Adams in 1823 So American civilization is rooted in intelligent design and would likely be very different if informed by the premises of what would emerge Don’t believe it? Just ask a candid and clear-sighted Darwinist. A friend has been reading the best-seller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and points out a passage that is refreshing in its candor Harari imagines rewriting the Declaration’s revered words in the light of Darwinian biology 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 unsentimentally shredding Jefferson’s noble phrases: And they certainly did not evolve to be ‘equal’ The idea of equality is inextricably intertwined with the idea of creation The Americans got the idea of equality from Christianity which argues that every person has a divinely created soul if we do not believe in the Christian myths about God what does it mean that all people are ‘equal’ Every person carries a somewhat different genetic code and is exposed from birth to different environmental influences This leads to the development of different qualities that carry with them different chances of survival ‘Created equal’ should therefore be translated into ‘evolved differently’ is there a ‘Creator’ who ‘endows’ them with anything There is only a blind evolutionary process ‘Endowed by their creator’ should be translated simply into ‘born’ there are no such things as rights in biology Birds fly not because they have a right to fly abilities and characteristics are ‘unalienable’ The ostrich is a bird that lost its ability to fly So ‘unalienable rights’ should be translated into ‘mutable characteristics’ And what are the characteristics that evolved in humans liberty is something that people invented and that exists only in their imagination it is meaningless to say that humans in democratic societies are free whereas humans in dictatorships are unfree that they are born with certain mutable characteristics and that among these are life and the pursuit of pleasure what follows the Declaration’s Preamble would be nonsensical Harari concedes that it’s possible to imagine a system of thought including equal rights A society could be founded on an “imagined order,” that is where “We believe in a particular order not because it is objectively true but because believing in it enables us to cooperate effectively and forge a better society.” This is just like the question debated by Jerry Coyne and Eric Metaxas about life’s “meaning.” On the Tucker Carlson show, as I wrote earlier Metaxas had stated plainly that under the Darwinian view “our lives literally have no meaning.” Coyne responded furiously over at Why Evolution Is True that this was a “crock,” only to be undermined by a quick scan of comments left by his own readers and the observation of Evolution News contributor Kirk Durston that “Making up a meaning and purpose is quite a bit different from there actually being objective meaning and purpose.” “You could imagine a meaning to life But inevitably it would be a fictional rather than objective meaning.” Similarly you could imagine ideals like those in the Declaration But inevitably they would be fictional rather than based in objective reality That’s the difference between trying to ground our civilization in evolutionary versus design premises It should be obvious that a society whose roots are widely acknowledged as fictions is bound to be less successful and enduring than one where they are recognized as real Photo credit: Jefferson Memorial © romanslavik.com — stock.adobe.com a region wedged between Ukraine and the Dniester River not recognised by any UN member states – and followed by a civil war – created a kind of political limbo in which the self-proclaimed republic’s roughly 500,000 citizens continue to live today In addition to its population and actively policed borders, Transnistria has its own government and armed forces. It prints its own currency and issues its own passports – neither of which are recognised. The Transnistria conflict is one of several “frozen conflicts” in the region (which could impact Russia, the EU and NATO) – as far as the outside world is concerned they promised us that we were going to build a little Switzerland here We had the potential,” says Svetlana (who requested that her name be changed) the capital city of Transnistria (and the second largest city in Moldova) Before its secession, Transnistria was the most prosperous region of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) and an industrial powerhouse that supplied the rest of the territory with electricity, generating approximately 40 per cent of Moldova’s GDP It’s where the country’s political elites came from and where Soviet troops were stationed the standard of living in Transnistria was twice as high as the rest of Moldova “Do you guys have oligarchs too?” Svetlana asks me Svetlana works part-time to help her daughter and grandchildren After a long and fruitless search for employment gave up and trained instead to be an electrician He now works in Poland on a seasonal basis Svetlana fondly remembers the days of the Soviet Union the problems started with the fall of the USSR and the rise of nationalist sentiment The people at the top were at war with one another and those of us on the bottom were paying the price,” she says “The conflict wasn’t an ethnic one as such even if identity and language played an important role for both sides,” explains Gilles-Emmanuel Jacquet professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and Investigator at the International Peace Institute in Geneva the Transnistrian and Moldovan elites were trying to maintain or gain power cultural and ethnic problems served as a pretext,” he adds the Transnistrian government privatised the bulk of the region’s industry Most of the companies were taken over by Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs or became property of the Russian state two former members of MSSR special services founded Sheriff a private conglomerate with ties to the family of Igor Smirnov Sheriff controls virtually all of the region’s political and economic life Transnistria’s unilateral declaration of independence isolated the region and placed it in a legal limbo that paved the way for poverty and the development of inequality “We should really be called ‘the Republic of Sheriff,’” jokes Anton a 38-year-old entrepreneur (who also asked us not to use his real name) not without a hint of bitterness in his tone “They’re the ones who decide everything here In theory you can build up your own business but you always run the risk of encroaching on their territory.” saving money to buy a flat in central Tiraspol His flat now functions as a small hostel in which statues and portraits of Lenin are basic elements of decoration “They come here to see the last Soviet vestige in Europe.” “We don’t ride through the streets on horses and we don’t spend our days staring at Lenin lives in a flat with standards comparable to those in Europe The spacious living room with leather armchairs and the high-end electrical appliances in the kitchen indicate a high standard of living Kira studied marketing and economics in Odessa (southern Ukraine) and France but wanted to return to Transnistria “We have everything we need here and everything is much easier than in Europe Kira opened a café in the centre of Tiraspol the equivalent of about three years of an average salary in Transnistria “We received the money as a wedding present Part of it was for our honeymoon and the rest was for the business My husband [Alex] knew I wasn’t going to stay at home with my son We did the decorations ourselves and now my aunt works in the café.” also runs a plastics and packaging company His main client is Sheriff’s supermarket network and his company is registered in Moldova “It gives him access to a much broader market Kira considers herself to be patriotic and speaks proudly of her family’s achievements: her grandfather one of the central figures in the fight for independence served as vice president from 2001 to 2006; her father Kira smiles when I ask her if she plans to get involved in politics “I have a lot of work with my business now For the majority of Transnistria’s inhabitants, however, the picture is not so rosy. The lack of employment forces many to leave the country in search of work. According to a study conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) close to 15 per cent of the working population left the region permanently Most are young people who choose Russia as their destination Little by little the country is becoming depopulated with only children and the elderly remaining behind “I’m not going to sacrifice myself for a country that has nothing to offer me,” says Olga who dreams of being an actress in Europe (and who is also using a fake name) there’s no independent culture and the culture that we do have is controlled by the government.” Olga is currently looking for work while she waits for a Romanian passport but I can’t go anywhere with the papers from here,” she explains “I already have a Russian passport but a Romanian one would allow me to live in Europe.” As she says you have to be patient – with the number of applications submitted it can take up to three years to get an appointment in the consulate Many young people in Transnistria want to live ’normal’ lives – to be able to travel attend universities in foreign countries or simply to buy goods “I love this country but there’s so much that we lack I would love for an Ikea to open here so we could buy normal furniture instead of having to go to Moldova or Ukraine,” says Sascha talking about Moldova was once a delicate subject Her father fought for independence and was taught in school that Moldovans were the enemy Her travels made her question a lot of things “I realised that not everything was as black and white and that everyone has their own version of history I would have done everything possible to avoid war opt for a discourse much more based on identity “The slogan ‘Suitcase – Train – Russia’ sticks with me to this day,” says Marina Kovtun “They wanted to throw us out of here and look not only are we still here but we’ve shown the world that we’re capable of surviving on our own European politicians say that they don’t recognise us but they come here to do business and we export to several European countries!” local goods can only be sold abroad if they are labelled as Moldovan products Financial transactions have to be made at Russian banks or directly in Moldova since the local currency is not recognised The lack of political normalisation discourages many foreign investors while some local companies can only offer cheap labour to European brands “85 per cent of our production is made for foreign companies mostly German,” explains Aleksander Swiderski director of ODEMA models and machinery and we have to deliver them a finished product with the company’s brand on it and labelled as made in Moldova The factory continues to function but neither the company nor the local population is actually developing.” “Transnistria has been able to survive this long thanks to Russian economic support,” explains G.E but he provides a lot of aid in order to keep it under his control.” One good example is the supply of gas through a Russian-Moldovan agreement, for which the Transnistrian government hasn’t paid in years. By mid-2014 the bill had reached US$4 billion (about €3.5 billion) the primary consumers – and debtors – of the gas are the industrial plants that belong to oligarchs and the Russian state Putin’s government also supports the development of small businesses renovates and builds public buildings and hospitals offers scholarships for students and pays for a large number of retiree pensions All of this further reinforces the widespread impression of being part of the Russian orbit an idea that has never been popular with Transnistria’s Moldovan minority a teacher in one of the few Moldovan secondary schools in Transnistria “My whole family was born here and those that left after independence have to apply for a visa to visit us There are Russian flags and Transnistrian flags flying everywhere here the question of identity is becoming less and less important even those who maintain a separatist discourse favour reinforcing economic ties between the two sides I used the Transnistria issue quite a bit in my book The Lone Wolf at Cover I’m pleased to say that the representation I employed is wholly consistent with this far more in-depth discussion During WW2 the French terrorists had the land before Russia took it in Cold War Why do you say “a promise of a little Switzerland”? It’s a promise of a little “France” actually Equal Times is a trilingual news and opinion website focusing on labour politics and the economy from a social justice perspective Commemoration in Tiraspol of the USSR’s victory in World War II the government of Trasnistria decided to keep Soviet symbols in opposition to the new symbolism of Moldova I went to a Fourth of July barbecue in the Hudson Valley the host led his guests up to a nearby Revolutionary War redoubt where he proceeded to read aloud from the Declaration of Independence If evangelicals are going insist on putting the Christ back into Christmas we secular humanists can take the trouble to bring Jefferson to our Independence Day celebrations Thanks to the Internet, it’s possible to get a feel for the drafting of the Declaration as never before. A good place to start is at the Library of Congress Web site, where you can view the lone surviving fragment of Jefferson’s first draft and examine the holograph manuscript of what’s known as the rough draft USHistory.org is the best site for tracking the changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and for comparing the language of the various versions “That all Men are created equal and independent; that from that equal Creation they derive Rights inherent and unalienable”—that was reasonably well said “That they are endowed by their creator with inherent & inalienable rights” is slightly more elegant “That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights”—now that really nails it order the delightful musical 1776 from Netflix and force your children to watch it with you away from the conception of the flame-haired founding father as solitary genius Jefferson drew on dozens of local expressions of similar sentiment which demonstrates that our treasured American customs are merely transplanted British folkways The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance notwithstanding the true facts about American history seem a lot more exciting these days than the legend A version of this article also appears in the Washington Post’s “Outlook” section Jason Lemon is a Senior Politics Editor at Newsweek based in Brooklyn, New York politics and international affairs. He joined Newsweek in 2018 and had previously worked as an editor at a Middle Eastern media startup called StepFeed He also worked a year as a contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and has bylines in The Christian Science Monitor Al Fanar Media and A Magazine. He is a graduate of the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and Andrews University in Michigan You can get in touch with Jason by emailing j.lemon@newsweek.com Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has demanded that Canada grant the province of Quebec independence and guarantee full rights to its marginalized indigenous population in apparently sarcastic comments during a Wednesday forum Discussing the ongoing diplomatic feud between Ottawa and Riyadh which arose last month when Canada criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record and called for the release of several detained activists Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said his country wants an "apology." "It is outrageous from our perspective that a country will sit there and lecture us Really?" Al-Jubeir said at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya reported "We demand the immediate independence of Quebec and the equal granting of rights to Canadian Indians [which Canada refers to as the First Nations]," the minister then added sarcastically making a comparison to illustrate his point claiming that those detained were actually spies working as agents of foreign organizations and governments others will go to trial and the evidence will be revealed to the world," he said The dispute arose following comments by Canada's Minister of Global Affairs Chrystia Freeland when she called for the release of women's rights activist Samar Badawi and her brother Raif to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam in 2012 On Tuesday, Freeland said she hoped to meet with Al-Jubeir directly during the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York to discuss the tensions "I have been in close touch with Adel [Al-Jubeir] all summer We are hoping to meet in New York this week and I think that's a good thing," she said Freeland said Canada would not back down on its position in defense of human rights "Canada will always stand up for human rights… We feel a particular obligation to women who are fighting for their rights around the world," she said Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written Black Americans have fought to make them true My dad always flew an American flag in our front yard The blue paint on our two-story house was perennially chipping; the fence which had been redlined by the federal government was along the river that divided the black side from the white side of our Iowa town which my dad would replace as soon as it showed the slightest tatter My dad was born into a family of sharecroppers on a white plantation in Greenwood where black people bent over cotton from can’t-see-in-the-morning to can’t-see-at-night just as their enslaved ancestors had done not long before The Mississippi of my dad’s youth was an apartheid state that subjugated its near-majority black population through breathtaking acts of violence White residents in Mississippi lynched more black people than those in any other state in the country and the white people in my dad’s home county lynched more black residents than those in any other county in Mississippi often for such “crimes” as entering a room occupied by white women bumping into a white girl or trying to start a sharecroppers union use the public library or find work other than toiling in the cotton fields or toiling in white people’s houses she packed up her few belongings and her three small children and joined the flood of black Southerners fleeing North She got off the Illinois Central Railroad in Waterloo only to have her hopes of the mythical Promised Land shattered when she learned that Jim Crow did not end at the Mason-Dixon line found a house in a segregated black neighborhood on the city’s east side and then found the work that was considered black women’s work no matter where black women lived — cleaning white people’s houses But he went into the military for another reason as well a reason common to black men: Dad hoped that if he served his country his country might finally treat him as an American He would be discharged under murky circumstances and then labor in a series of service jobs for the rest of his life Like all the black men and women in my family but like all the black men and women in my family that flag outside our home never made sense to me having seen firsthand the way his country abused black Americans how it refused to treat us as full citizens that our history as a people began with enslavement and that we had contributed little to this great nation It seemed that the closest thing black Americans could have to cultural pride was to be found in our vague connection to Africa That my dad felt so much honor in being an American felt like a marker of his degradation My father knew exactly what he was doing when he raised that flag He knew that our people’s contributions to building the richest and most powerful nation in the world were indelible that the United States simply would not exist without us just 12 years after the English settled Jamestown one year before the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock and some 157 years before the English colonists even decided they wanted to form their own country the Jamestown colonists bought 20 to 30 enslaved Africans from English pirates The pirates had stolen them from a Portuguese slave ship that had forcibly taken them from what is now the country of Angola Those men and women who came ashore on that August day were the beginning of American slavery They were among the 12.5 million Africans who would be kidnapped from their homes and brought in chains across the Atlantic Ocean in the largest forced migration in human history until the Second World War Almost two million did not survive the grueling journey But it would be historically inaccurate to reduce the contributions of black people to the vast material wealth created by our bondage foundational to the idea of American freedom More than any other group in this country’s history in an overlooked but vital role: It is we who have been the perfecters of this democracy The United States is a nation founded on both an ideal and a lie proclaims that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” But the white men who drafted those words did not believe them to be true for the hundreds of thousands of black people in their midst Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” did not apply to fully one-fifth of the country Yet despite being violently denied the freedom and justice promised to all black Americans believed fervently in the American creed Through centuries of black resistance and protest we have helped the country live up to its founding ideals And not only for ourselves — black rights struggles paved the way for every other rights struggle strenuous and patriotic efforts of black Americans our democracy today would most likely look very different — it might not be a democracy at all The very first person to die for this country in the American Revolution was a black man who himself was not free Crispus Attucks was a fugitive from slavery yet he gave his life for a new nation in which his own people would not enjoy the liberties laid out in the Declaration for another century In every war this nation has waged since that first one black Americans have fought — today we are the most likely of all racial groups to serve in the United States military one of those many black Americans who answered the call knew what it would take me years to understand: that the year 1619 is as important to the American story as 1776 as much as those men cast in alabaster in the nation’s capital are this nation’s true “founding fathers.” And that no people has a greater claim to that flag than us Thomas Jefferson sat at his portable writing desk in a rented room in Philadelphia and penned these words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” For the last 243 years this fierce assertion of the fundamental and natural rights of humankind to freedom and self-governance has defined our global reputation as a land of liberty a teenage boy who would enjoy none of those rights and liberties waited nearby to serve at his master’s beck and call and he was the half brother of Jefferson’s wife born to Martha Jefferson’s father and a woman he owned It was common for white enslavers to keep their half-black children in slavery from among about 130 enslaved people that worked on the forced-labor camp he called Monticello to accompany him to Philadelphia and ensure his every comfort as he drafted the text making the case for a new democratic republic based on the individual rights of men one-fifth of the population within the 13 colonies struggled under a brutal system of slavery unlike anything that had existed in the world before Chattel slavery was not conditional but racial meaning generations of black people were born into it and passed their enslaved status onto their children Enslaved people were not recognized as human beings but as property that could be mortgaged Jefferson’s fellow white colonists knew that black people were human beings but they created a network of laws and customs astounding for both their precision and cruelty that ensured that enslaved people would never be treated as such As the abolitionist William Goodell wrote in 1853 “If any thing founded on falsehood might be called a science we might add the system of American slavery to the list of the strict sciences.” [Listen to a new podcast with Nikole Hannah-Jones that tells the story of slavery and its legacy like you’ve never heard it before.] They were barred from learning to read and restricted from meeting privately in groups sold and traded away from them on auction blocks alongside furniture and cattle or behind storefronts that advertised “Negroes for Sale.” Enslavers and the courts did not honor kinship ties to mothers Enslavers could rape or murder their property without legal consequence including by those working for Jefferson himself in order to produce the highest profits for the white people who owned them Yet in making the argument against Britain’s tyranny one of the colonists’ favorite rhetorical devices was to claim that they were the slaves — to Britain they faced burning criticism both at home and abroad an English writer and Tory opposed to American independence “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes?” Conveniently left out of our founding mythology is the fact that one of the primary reasons some of the colonists decided to declare their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery Britain had grown deeply conflicted over its role in the barbaric institution that had reshaped the Western Hemisphere there were growing calls to abolish the slave trade This would have upended the economy of the colonies The wealth and prominence that allowed Jefferson and the other founding fathers to believe they could successfully break off from one of the mightiest empires in the world came from the dizzying profits generated by chattel slavery we may never have revolted against Britain if some of the founders had not understood that slavery empowered them to do so; nor if they had not believed that independence was required in order to ensure that slavery would continue It is not incidental that 10 of this nation’s first 12 presidents were enslavers and some might argue that this nation was founded not as a democracy but as a slavocracy Jefferson and the other founders were keenly aware of this hypocrisy And so in Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence he tried to argue that it wasn’t the colonists’ fault he blamed the king of England for forcing the institution of slavery on the unwilling colonists and called the trafficking in human beings a crime Yet neither Jefferson nor most of the founders intended to abolish slavery There is no mention of slavery in the final Declaration of Independence when it came time to draft the Constitution the framers carefully constructed a document that preserved and protected slavery without ever using the word In the texts in which they were making the case for freedom to the world they did not want to explicitly enshrine their hypocrisy Six deal directly with the enslaved and their enslavement as the historian David Waldstreicher has written and five more hold implications for slavery The Constitution protected the “property” of those who enslaved black people prohibited the federal government from intervening to end the importation of enslaved Africans for a term of 20 years allowed Congress to mobilize the militia to put down insurrections by the enslaved and forced states that had outlawed slavery to turn over enslaved people who had run away seeking refuge the writer and abolitionist Samuel Bryan called out the deceit “The words are dark and ambiguous; such as no plain man of common sense would have used [and] are evidently chosen to conceal from Europe the practice of slavery has its advocates among men in the highest stations.” the founding fathers could no longer blame slavery on Britain The shameful paradox of continuing chattel slavery in a nation founded on individual freedom led to a hardening of the racial caste system reinforced not just by laws but by racist science and literature maintained that black people were subhuman a belief that allowed white Americans to live with their betrayal according to the legal historians Leland B “had a considerable psychological as well as economic investment in the doctrine of black inferiority.” While liberty was the inalienable right of the people who would be considered white enslavement and subjugation became the natural station of people who had any discernible drop of “black” blood The Supreme Court enshrined this thinking in the law in its 1857 Dred Scott decision This made them inferior to white people and and the “Negro race,” the court ruled was “a separate class of persons,” which the founders had “not regarded as a portion of the people or citizens of the Government” and had “no rights which a white man was bound to respect.” This belief that black people were not merely enslaved but were a slave race became the root of the endemic racism that we still cannot purge from this nation to this day If black people could not ever be citizens if they were a caste apart from all other humans then they did not require the rights bestowed by the Constitution and the “we” in the “We the People” was not a lie a mere five years after the nation’s highest courts declared that no black person could be an American citizen President Abraham Lincoln called a group of five esteemed free black men to the White House for a meeting It was one of the few times that black people had ever been invited to the White House as guests The Civil War had been raging for more than a year who had been increasingly pressuring Lincoln to end slavery must have felt a sense of great anticipation and pride Britain was contemplating whether to intervene on the Confederacy’s behalf unable to draw enough new white volunteers for the war was forced to reconsider his opposition to allowing black Americans to fight for their own liberation The president was weighing a proclamation that threatened to emancipate all enslaved people in the states that had seceded from the Union if the states did not end the rebellion The proclamation would also allow the formerly enslaved to join the Union army and fight against their former “masters.” But Lincoln worried about what the consequences of this radical step would be he opposed slavery as a cruel system at odds with American ideals He believed that free black people were a “troublesome presence” incompatible with a democracy intended only for white people and make them politically and socially our equals?” he had said four years earlier “My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not.” they were greeted by the towering Lincoln and a man named James Mitchell who eight days before had been given the title of a newly created position called the commissioner of emigration He informed his guests that he had gotten Congress to appropriate funds to ship black people “Why should they leave this country the first question for proper consideration,” Lincoln told them You can imagine the heavy silence in that room as the weight of what the president said momentarily stole the breath of these five black men It was 243 years to the month since the first of their ancestors had arrived on these shores long before most of the white people insisting that this was not their country The Union had not entered the war to end slavery but to keep the South from splitting off Enslaved people were fleeing their forced-labor camps taking up arms for his cause as well as their own And now Lincoln was blaming them for the war “Although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or the other .. without the institution of slavery and the colored race as a basis the war could not have an existence,” the president told them that they would consult on his proposition “Take your full time,” Lincoln said Nearly three years after that White House meeting and four million black Americans were suddenly free agreeing with the sentiment of a resolution against black colonization put forward at a convention of black leaders in New York some decades before: “This is our home Beneath its sod lie the bones of our fathers That the formerly enslaved did not take up Lincoln’s offer to abandon these lands is an astounding testament to their belief in this nation’s founding ideals “Few men ever worshiped Freedom with half such unquestioning faith as did the American Negro for two centuries.” Black Americans had long called for universal equality and believed “that God has made of one blood all the nations that dwell on the face of the earth.” Liberated by war they did not seek vengeance on their oppressors as Lincoln and so many other white Americans feared During this nation’s brief period of Reconstruction formerly enslaved people zealously engaged with the democratic process With federal troops tempering widespread white violence black Southerners started branches of the Equal Rights League — one of the nation’s first human rights organizations — to fight discrimination and organize voters; they headed in droves to the polls where they placed other formerly enslaved people into seats that their enslavers had once held for the first time in the history of this country Some 16 black men served in Congress — including Hiram Revels of Mississippi who became the first black man elected to the Senate (Demonstrating just how brief this period would be would go from being the first black man elected to the last for nearly a hundred years until Edward Brooke of Massachusetts took office in 1967.) More than 600 black men served in Southern state legislatures and hundreds more in local positions These black officials joined with white Republicans to write the most egalitarian state constitutions the South had ever seen They helped pass more equitable tax legislation and laws that prohibited discrimination in public transportation Perhaps their biggest achievement was the establishment of that most democratic of American institutions: the public school Public education effectively did not exist in the South before Reconstruction The white elite sent their children to private schools while poor white children went without an education who had been prohibited from learning to read and write during slavery So black legislators successfully pushed for a universal state-funded system of schools — not just for their own children but for white children Black legislators also helped pass the first compulsory education laws in the region were now required to attend schools like their Northern counterparts every Southern state had enshrined the right to a public education for all children into its constitution Led by black activists and a Republican Party pushed left by the blatant recalcitrance of white Southerners the years directly after slavery saw the greatest expansion of human and civil rights this nation would ever see making the United States one of the last nations in the Americas to outlaw slavery pushed white legislators to pass the Civil Rights Act the nation’s first such law and one of the most expansive pieces of civil rights legislation Congress has ever passed It codified black American citizenship for the first time prohibited housing discrimination and gave all Americans the right to buy and inherit property make and enforce contracts and seek redress from courts ensuring citizenship to any person born in the United States Latin American or Middle Eastern immigrant gains automatic citizenship constitutionally guaranteed equal protection under the law nearly all other marginalized groups have used the 14th Amendment in their fights for equality (including the recent successful arguments before the Supreme Court on behalf of same-sex marriage) guaranteeing the most critical aspect of democracy and citizenship — the right to vote — to all men regardless of “race or previous condition of servitude.” For this fleeting moment known as Reconstruction the majority in Congress seemed to embrace the idea that out of the ashes of the Civil War we could create the multiracial democracy that black Americans envisioned even if our founding fathers did not Anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country, as does the belief, so well articulated by Lincoln, that black people are the obstacle to national unity. The many gains of Reconstruction were met with fierce white resistance throughout the South including unthinkable violence against the formerly enslaved the overthrow of democratically elected biracial governments the federal government decided that black people were the cause of the problem and that for unity’s sake it would leave the white South to its own devices in order to secure a compromise with Southern Democrats that would grant him the presidency in a contested election agreed to pull federal troops from the South white Southerners quickly went about eradicating the gains of Reconstruction The systemic white suppression of black life was so severe that this period between the 1880s and the 1920 and ’30s became known as the Great Nadir Democracy would not return to the South for nearly a century thanks in significant part to the progressive policies and laws black people had championed experienced substantial improvement in their lives even as they forced black people back into a quasi slavery “It was the poor white man who was freed by the war Georgia pines flew past the windows of the Greyhound bus carrying Isaac Woodard home to Winnsboro After serving four years in the Army in World War II he was given an honorable discharge earlier that day at Camp Gordon and was headed home to meet his wife When the bus stopped at a small drugstore an hour outside Atlanta Woodard got into a brief argument with the white driver after asking if he could use the restroom the driver stopped again and told Woodard to get off the bus Woodard stepped from the stairs and saw the police waiting for him one of the officers struck him in his head with a billy club beating him so badly that he fell unconscious The blows to Woodard’s head were so severe that when he woke in a jail cell the next day The beating occurred just 4½ hours after his military discharge There was nothing unusual about Woodard’s horrific maiming It was part of a wave of systemic violence deployed against black Americans after Reconstruction As the egalitarian spirit of post-Civil War America evaporated under the desire for national reunification served as a problematic reminder of this nation’s failings White America dealt with this inconvenience by constructing a savagely enforced system of racial apartheid that excluded black people almost entirely from mainstream American life — a system so grotesque that Nazi Germany would later take inspiration from it for its own racist policies Despite the guarantees of equality in the 14th Amendment the Supreme Court’s landmark Plessy v Ferguson decision in 1896 declared that the racial segregation of black Americans was constitutional With the blessing of the nation’s highest court and no federal will to vindicate black rights Southern states passed a series of laws and codes meant to make slavery’s racial caste system permanent by denying black people political power They passed literacy tests to keep black people from voting and created all-white primaries for elections Black people were prohibited from serving on juries or testifying in court against a white person South Carolina prohibited white and black textile workers from using the same doors Oklahoma forced phone companies to segregate phone booths Memphis had separate parking spaces for black and white drivers Baltimore passed an ordinance outlawing black people from moving onto a block more than half white and white people from moving onto a block more than half black Georgia made it illegal for black and white people to be buried next to one another in the same cemetery Alabama barred black people from using public libraries that their own tax dollars were paying for Black people were expected to jump off the sidewalk to let white people pass and call all white people by an honorific though they received none no matter how old they were white politicians implemented policies that segregated black people into slum neighborhoods and into inferior all-black schools operated whites-only public pools and held white and “colored” days at the country fair and white businesses regularly denied black people service placing “Whites Only” signs in their windows States like California joined Southern states in barring black people from marrying white people while local school boards in Illinois and New Jersey mandated segregated schools for black and white children This caste system was maintained through wanton racial terrorism especially those with the audacity to wear their uniform had since the Civil War been the target of a particular violence This intensified during the two world wars because white people understood that once black men had gone abroad and experienced life outside the suffocating racial oppression of America they were unlikely to quietly return to their subjugation at home Vardaman of Mississippi said on the Senate floor during World War I black servicemen returning to the South would “inevitably lead to disaster.” Giving a black man “military airs” and sending him to defend the flag would bring him “to the conclusion that his political rights must be respected.” Many white Americans saw black men in the uniforms of America’s armed services not as patriotic but as exhibiting a dangerous pride We like to call those who lived during World War II the Greatest Generation but that allows us to ignore the fact that many of this generation fought for democracy abroad while brutally suppressing democracy for millions of American citizens During the height of racial terror in this country black Americans were not merely killed but castrated burned alive and dismembered with their body parts displayed in storefronts This violence was meant to terrify and control black people it served as a psychological balm for white supremacy: You would not treat human beings this way The extremity of the violence was a symptom of the psychological mechanism necessary to absolve white Americans of their country’s original sin To answer the question of how they could prize liberty abroad while simultaneously denying liberty to an entire race back home white Americans resorted to the same racist ideology that Jefferson and the framers had used at the nation’s founding This ideology — that black people belonged to an inferior subhuman race — did not simply disappear once slavery ended If the formerly enslaved and their descendants became educated if we thrived in the jobs white people did then the entire justification for how this nation allowed slavery would collapse Free black people posed a danger to the country’s idea of itself as exceptional; we held up the mirror in which the nation preferred not to peer And so the inhumanity visited on black people by every generation of white America justified the inhumanity of the past World War II ignited what became black Americans’ second sustained effort to make democracy real As the editorial board of the black newspaper The Pittsburgh Courier wrote “We wage a two-pronged attack against our enslavers at home and those abroad who will enslave us.” Woodard’s blinding is largely seen as one of the catalysts for the decades-long rebellion we have come to call the civil rights movement But it is useful to pause and remember that this was the second mass movement for black civil rights As the centennial of slavery’s end neared black people were still seeking the rights they had fought for and won after the Civil War: the right to be treated equally by public institutions which was guaranteed in 1866 with the Civil Rights Act; the right to be treated as full citizens before the law which was guaranteed in 1868 by the 14th Amendment; and the right to vote which was guaranteed in 1870 by the 15th Amendment In response to black demands for these rights beat them and dumped their bodies in muddy rivers peeled back their skin with fire hoses and murdered their children with explosives set off inside a church The bloody freedom struggles of the civil rights movement laid the foundation for every other modern rights struggle This nation’s white founders set up a decidedly undemocratic Constitution that excluded women and did not provide the vote or equality for most Americans But the laws born out of black resistance guarantee the franchise for all and ban discrimination based not just on race but on gender It was the civil rights movement that led to the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which upended the racist immigration quota system intended to keep this country white black and brown immigrants from across the globe are able to come to the United States and live in a country in which legal discrimination is no longer allowed It is a truly American irony that some Asian-Americans among the groups able to immigrate to the United States because of the black civil rights struggle are now suing universities to end programs designed to help the descendants of the enslaved No one cherishes freedom more than those who have not had it embrace the democratic ideals of a common good We are the most likely to support programs like universal health care and a higher minimum wage and to oppose programs that harm the most vulnerable black Americans suffer the most from violent crime yet we are the most opposed to capital punishment Our unemployment rate is nearly twice that of white Americans yet we are still the most likely of all groups to say this nation should take in refugees The truth is that as much democracy as this nation has today it has been borne on the backs of black resistance Our founding fathers may not have actually believed in the ideals they espoused “Enslaved African-Americans have been among the foremost freedom-fighters this country has produced.” For generations we have believed in this country with a faith it did not deserve Black people have seen the worst of America They say our people were born on the water when they had not seen their land or any land for so many days that they lost count and resignation to an abiding understanding The teal eternity of the Atlantic Ocean had severed them so completely from what had once been their home that it was as if nothing had ever existed before as if everything and everyone they cherished had simply vanished from the earth They were no longer Mbundu or Akan or Fulani These men and women from many different nations all shackled together in the suffocating hull of the ship but their enslavers did not bother to record them They had been made black by those people who believed that they were white black equaled “slave,” and slavery in America required turning human beings into property by stripping them of every element that made them individuals in which people stolen from western and central Africa were forced to stop speaking their native tongues and practicing their native religions “Out of the ashes of white denigration we gave birth to ourselves.” For as much as white people tried to pretend Our last names belong to the white people who once owned us That is why the insistence of many black Americans When the world listens to quintessential American music The sorrow songs we sang in the fields to soothe our physical pain and find hope in a freedom we did not expect to know until we died became American gospel Amid the devastating violence and poverty of the Mississippi Delta And it was in the deeply impoverished and segregated neighborhoods where white Americans forced the descendants of the enslaved to live that teenagers too poor to buy instruments used old records to create a new music known as hip-hop Our speech and fashion and the drum of our music echoes Africa but is not African both from our native cultures and from white America we forged this nation’s most significant original culture “mainstream” society has coveted our style seeking to appropriate the one truly American culture as its own “They’ll see how beautiful I am/And be ashamed —/I white Americans have been trying to solve the “Negro problem.” They have dedicated thousands of pages to this endeavor as if these conditions in a country built on a racial caste system are not utterly predictable you cannot view those statistics while ignoring another: that black people were enslaved here longer than we have been free I am part of the first generation of black Americans in the history of the United States to be born into a society in which black people had full rights of citizenship Black people suffered under slavery for 250 years; we have been legally “free” for just 50 despite continuing to face rampant discrimination and despite there never having been a genuine effort to redress the wrongs of slavery and the century of racial apartheid that followed black Americans have made astounding progress not only for ourselves but also for all Americans that we have never been the problem but the solution When I was a child — I must have been in fifth or sixth grade — a teacher gave our class an assignment intended to celebrate the diversity of the great American melting pot She instructed each of us to write a short report on our ancestral land and then draw that nation’s flag As she turned to write the assignment on the board the other black girl in class locked eyes with me Slavery had erased any connection we had to an African country and even if we tried to claim the whole continent It was hard enough being one of two black kids in the class and this assignment would just be another reminder of the distance between the white kids and us I walked over to the globe near my teacher’s desk picked a random African country and claimed it as my own that I could go back to the younger me and tell her that her people’s ancestry started here draw the stars and those stripes of the American flag But it was by virtue of our bondage that we became the most American of all An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the signing of the Declaration of Independence The article also misspelled the surname of a Revolutionary War-era writer A passage has been adjusted to make clear that a desire to protect slavery was among the motivations of some of the colonists who fought the Revolutionary War, not among the motivations of all of them. Read more Nikole Hannah-Jones is a staff writer for the magazine Adam Pendleton is an artist known for conceptually rigorous and formally inventive paintings videos and installations that address history and contemporary culture What exactly do we celebrate on the Fourth of July beyond meat charred beyond recognition and then slathered with sriracha beer that is either too watery or tastes like soup left in the fridge too long which is consistent with the history of the holiday not to mention with a nation that is allergic to history except in its most simplistic and mythological forms Pretty much since the beginning of the republic the Fourth has been conceived as a generalized celebration of American independence big on symbolic display but short on substance Philadelphia apparently had it all figured out by July 4 George Washington granted his troops a double ration of rum weepy jingoism from the right and cautious boring homilies about hope and promise from what we hilariously describe as the left But here’s the thing: What happened in Philadelphia on July 4 and is well worth our attention and our remembrance The United States of America did not yet exist (It was another 13 years before we had a constitution.) The Revolutionary War had only recently begun What emerged from the political chaos of that summer was no more than an idea combined into an extraordinary document that would change the course of history I’m talking about the Declaration of Independence, of course although the Continental Congress vote on independence actually happened two days earlier and grumpy John Adams always thought July 2 should be the national holiday.) That’s the one that holds certain truths to be self-evident truths about universal human equality and universal human rights among them the “pursuit of Happiness,” a phrase that amazes me every time I encounter it Not quite as well known but every bit as important is the next paragraph the one asserting that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it …” A few sentences later and the right of the people to overthrow an abusive and despotic government becomes a “duty.” I’m pretty sure only scary right-wing militia guys encounter that last part with any sense of its moral seriousness But if you can detach the rhetoric from those associations and consider its impact on human history More than 100 declarations of national independence around the world have emulated Thomas Jefferson’s structure or borrowed chunks of his prose from the Haitian example adopted after Toussaint Louverture’s slave uprising of 1804 to the Vietnamese declaration of independence written by Ho Chi Minh in 1945 to the one adopted by white-ruled Rhodesia in 1965 (which for some reason did not say anything about people being created equal.) Most of us take the Declaration for granted or ignore it; we enshrine it as holy writ or we deride it as the self-serving testament of a bunch of white do not meet the philosophical challenge posed by the Declaration whose revolutionary and transformative potential went far beyond anything the cabal of affluent colonists who created it could possibly have imagined that might not be fair when it comes to Jefferson who no doubt had an inkling of the historical significance and was always writing with posterity in view After his own plodding and earnest fashion But most of those guys with their names at the bottom (my favorites are Button Gwinnett Caesar Rodney and “Charles Carroll of Carrollton,” not to be confused who are believed to have signed it weeks or months later were only thinking about the short-term practical consequences Could they persuade George III to back down There were good reasons why the text of the Declaration fell into obscurity during the republic’s early decades before it was revived and revitalized by Abraham Lincoln who grasped its implicit meanings more vividly than any other 19th-century white American for our superior wisdom and our enlightened position (an error known as “historicism”) but it’s not like the glaring contrast between rhetoric and reality went unnoticed in 1776 As soon as the Declaration reached Britain a leading abolitionist named Thomas Day responded: “If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature signing resolutions of independency with the one hand and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.” understood what they were doing or the significance it would assume later The Declaration had to be written and enacted quickly against a climate of worsening guerrilla warfare and all sorts of dubious deal-making and arm-twisting Pro-British colonial governments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey were overthrown in what were essentially coups; New York was under British occupation and that state’s delegation to the Continental Congress never cast a vote on independence Delegates edited down Jefferson’s draft by about one-fourth and simplified its language (which infuriated him) but they didn’t have much time for debate and cogitation This was an instrument meant to serve a purpose they probably didn’t think about it too much This was virtually the opposite of the more laborious later process of drafting the Constitution – and look how that turned out and written in deliberately vague legalese that seemed antiquated even at the time How much conspiracy theory and half-baked Internet scholarship has been fueled by the famous stipulation that only a “natural born Citizen” is eligible for the presidency how much murder and mayhem has been enabled by the garbled syntax of the one-sentence Second Amendment which reads like a cut-and-paste error from the 18th-century version of Microsoft Word The only self-evident truth in the Constitution is that it was the work of a committee who haggled over every word The two documents are entirely different beasts The Constitution was meant as the user’s manual for a new nation and a new mode of government and since its authors explicitly envisioned a republic run by a small caste of gentlemen-farmers their manual is hopelessly inadequate for an urban polyglot consumer democracy of 300-plus million people or rather several things at once: It’s a public broadside announcing that a series of petty disputes over commerce and taxes had escalated to the point that we were actually cutting the cord with Mother England and a list of grievances against the king that ranged from murder and pillage to constant meddling in the colonial legislative process Delegates famously removed Jefferson’s allegation that the Crown had forced the American colonists to accept the evils of slavery (talk about passing the buck but retained the charge that George III had incited rebellion among the “merciless Indian Savages,” in the document’s ugliest phrase But behind and surrounding all the political minutiae and that telltale moment of racist paranoia there’s a crazily ambitious mode of blue-sky rhetoric that is distinctively Jeffersonian along with a remarkable distillation of several strains of Enlightenment philosophy into a few sentences Lincoln read the preamble to the Declaration as a moral challenge the United States had so far failed to meet a challenge to be a better nation than we were I’m inclined to view Thomas Jefferson in similar terms: He understood perfectly well that the nature of his personal fortune (to say nothing of his private life) was at odds with his supposed principles; his life as a statesman and thinker was a series of failed efforts to reconcile the two to make himself into a better person than he was This may be an overly mystical mode for discussing history but the Declaration is so much greater than the limited and disappointing men who wrote it and signed it that it seems as if an unknown force spoke through it or through them Those explosive ideas about natural rights shared by all people and national rights of sovereignty and self-determination had been bubbling around Britain and Europe for the previous century or more The Declaration of Independence was like an oil well drilled into an underground vein: It brought those ideas gushing out of the Zeitgeist and onto the page not fully worked out or entirely conscious in a hurriedly constructed political document that no one especially intended as a philosophical landmark that would shape global history for 200 years and more But the synthesis of all those currents into a few brief and elegant sentences It was not merely true that all men were created equal; it was “self-evident.” You can argue that Jefferson and the delegates privately understood the term “all men” to mean property-owning white male adults while the founding fathers certainly did not envision women as full citizens any 18th-century reader would understand the words “man” and “men,” in a legal or philosophical context that he intended the Declaration “to be an expression of the American mind.” That’s a scary concept today when the American mind consists of one part Donald Trump’s Twitter feed and three parts Candy Crush was that he was trying to summarize the attitudes of the educated colonial leadership of the 1770s who shared a set of broad Enlightenment ideals But the true origins of the Declaration are not American If we really want to celebrate and appreciate the Declaration today as we consume aneurysm-inducing barbecue and Old Milwaukee by the 18-pack we need to decouple it from the “American mind” and American history the Declaration’s radical vision of universal human equality and a universal right to pursue happiness – an idea Jefferson definitely didn’t get from Locke but might have found in the now-forgotten Swiss political theorist Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui – was an almost utopian moral model to which America did not and quite likely could not measure up It would be profoundly misleading to suggest that the United States embodies the philosophical principles laid out in the Declaration Those conceptions cannot be contained by America and most certainly are not limited to America – and furthermore a long political tradition within America has always resisted them which has been viewed with hatred and suspicion ever since by the most jingoistic elements of the American right precisely the same people who fetishize and deify the glorious Founding Fathers Insisting upon universal human rights that apply equally and without asterisks to everyone in the world has long struck many American conservatives as a sinister if not downright Communistic notion It undermines the God-given specialness of America our sense that we have earned rights and freedoms that other nations haven’t once you start to take these airy-fairy notions of universal human rights seriously – or that second part about the rights of nations to throw off despots and usurpers and establish their own governments -- it tends to interfere with oil-company profits CIA-sponsored coups and unilateral military invasions America-hater conspiracy has its roots in the foundational document of 1776 the one we hypothetically celebrate on our big summer holiday that was written by our most famous political philosopher and third president the answer to this devilish paradox was a long-running game of rhetorical dodgeball: You ignored the language and implications of the Declaration for as long as possible and when that was no longer possible you sought to limit the damage Maybe Jefferson’s idealistic language didn’t really mean what it said (or say what it meant); maybe he really did just mean white men During his legendary 1858 debates with Lincoln Stephen Douglas argued that Jefferson was solely concerned with the case for American independence and never intended to argue for the equality of an “inferior or degraded race,” i.e. He slipped that stuff in right at the top just for kicks Mainstream historians have often contended that Douglas was probably right but that Lincoln’s more expansive interpretation carried the day I read the inner conflict of Jefferson differently: This is a first-class mind and a great writer we’re talking about challenging himself to stand for values he did not fulfill personally the Civil Rights struggle and the fight for marriage equality -- and who now resist universal principles of human rights national sovereignty and self-determination – have essentially embraced the guilt and hypocrisy of Thomas Jefferson I’m not saying that the deeds-vs.-words thing with Thomas Jefferson isn’t a problem One of the greatest single sentences ever written in English and the most important summary document of 18th-century political philosophy were the work of a guy who looks worse and worse the more we learn about him Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Now I know we can pick that apart to find the roots of bourgeois liberal individualism and the consumer society and so forth but the more basic problem is that it’s brilliant and magnificent and daring and without precedent and it caused immense political earthquakes all around the globe And its author was a mendacious and deluded asshole whose personal and political hypocrisy poisoned our democracy at the roots So if we take a moment amid the mountains of beer-broiled brats and Buffalo wings to celebrate the document published in Philadelphia on this day 239 years ago and to marvel once again at the fact that it suggests we have a right to be happy (or at least to try to be) we’re celebrating something much bigger and broader in scope than one stupid country An imperfect vessel made by imperfect people in an imperfect country in which an idea crucial to furthering the liberation of the human species was captured and distilled as well as a fraught and deeply contradictory phenomenon We weren’t ready for the ideas in the Declaration of Independence in 1776; we have repeatedly tried to ditch them or ignore them (That part about the duty to overthrow despotic regimes that defy the popular will and usurp democracy if we gave it a little thought.) Those ideas were never our property in the first place and they didn’t make us special in the eyes of God Sometimes we’ve behaved as if having thought such awesome thoughts 200-odd years ago gave us carte blanche to stomp on the entire world with zero regard for our supposed principles Sometimes we have waged an evangelical struggle to redeem the good Jefferson from the bad Jefferson to purify our national soul and live up to the unfulfilled promise of the Declaration at last One of those behavior patterns is definitely preferable to the other but both of them reflect a really high degree of national narcissism and self-importance and pretty much assume that the fate of the world rests on our shoulders It is pretty much time for America to get over itself and start acting like a normal country with normal priorities like trying to provide decent lives for its citizens and get along with its neighbors I kind of think that’s what the Declaration of Independence was driving at anyway when I say “normal country” it’s just a figure of speech We’ll still have corn dogs and vegan corn dogs and bacon-wrapped dogs and Korean bulgogi dogs and some guy down the block will deep-fry a turkey in an oil barrel using an engine winch and if that isn’t exactly what Jefferson meant by the pursuit of happiness Andrew O'Hehir is executive editor of Salon Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep discussed the phrase “All men are created equal” with two Harvard scholars who wrote a book in 1997 about Thomas Jefferson’s affair with one of his slaves and the children born from that relationship He also spoke with Harvard historian Jill Lepore who said that Jefferson took the idea from Enlightenment thinkers.“It’s fashionable to indict the limits of [Jefferson’s] vision,” Lepore said even the idea that all white men are created equal was a radical notion at the time Those men lived in a highly ranked culture and a declaration of equality is throwing that away or challenging that in a revolutionary manner.” This weekend thousands of political activists and SNP members will descend on the Granite City for the SNP’s 85th annual conference In the midst of the political turmoil of Brexit SNP supporters from across the country will come together in anticipation of what’s to come and to reflect on what we’ve achieved so far From the periphery of Scottish politics some decades ago we have become the country’s largest party with well over 120,000 members We’re the party of free tuition – saving students in Scotland up to £27,750 compared to the cost of studying in England We’re the party of record NHS spending that abolished unjust prescription charges We’re the party that’s delivered the Baby Box doubled childcare provision and handed 16 & 17 year olds the right to vote we’re the party that’s cemented Scotland’s place as a world-leader in tackling climate change We’re the UK’s largest anti-Brexit party with 100 parliamentarians in Edinburgh Westminster and Brussels fighting for Scotland’s place in Europe We’re the party shaping a better future for the next generation and we’re the party that will help deliver independence for Scotland But independence isn’t about a victory for the SNP Independence is about our right to self-determination best placed to take decisions about our future and a yes vote gives them that power Scotland is being ripped out of the Europe against our will by the most right-wing Tory government since Thatcher – despite promises from the Better Together campaign that a No vote was the only way to secure our EU membership All of us who support independence have long viewed Westminster as a failing institution but even we would have struggled to predict the complete meltdown caused by Brexit Scotland has been ignored – we’ve been told to shut up and remember our place From speaking to voters across the country I know that many people who voted no in 2014 are horrified They’re looking for a way to escape Boris’ broken Britain They’re ready to hear the case for independence And it’s our job to persuade them – with patience The SNP is heading into our conference riding high on the back of increasing support for independence and a determination to do everything we can to protect Scotland’s interests Where the unionists offer narrow isolationism – our movement offers the opposite Independence is about Scotland joining Europe and the rest of the world as an equal partner – not about throwing up new barriers like Brexit does we have the momentum and we can win that majority for independence it is important that we use this conference to look forward with optimism and passion – continuing to build our case for a brighter I’m excited to take that case across the country giving voters in Scotland the chance to shape a better future for Scotland This is our time – let’s grab this opportunity with both hands If you need help, please contact member.care@snp.org or call 0800 633 5432 Don't have an account? 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