Created Equal

The United States Declaration of Independence celebrates its 249th birthday today. Each time I examine this document with my American Literature students, something new speaks to me. I am moved by the powerful ways this document continues to speak to our national identity. 

Thomas Jefferson’s pronouncement early in the declaration offers the most audacious claim of these United States: 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Radical! This document quickly spread throughout the colonies and then around the world, reaching as far as Russia by August 11th. This little piece of writing turned centuries of class stratification on its head, especially throughout Europe, and kicked off the age of Atlantic Revolution. While Jefferson’s words were politically radical, I have found, through my many bouts of teaching this brief document, that Jefferson’s claim is easily backed up by the Gospels. In fact, the Gospel reading for today, the Friday of the 13th week of Ordinary Time, offers a perfect example of that defense. 

Jesus invites Matthew to follow him, and when the pharisees inevitably express their dismay at his association with a tax collector, Jesus responds: “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Jesus quickly unravels their vision of hierarchy and proximity to the Divine; by upending their idea about who’s on top and who’s in the dust, Christ reflects the commonality of all human beings as lovingly made in the image of their Creator. 

So, as a millennial, American Catholic, I take great solace in Jefferson’s audacity to pronounce the equality of all people, the right of each individual to a life lived freely, because that is what the Creator desires. In this way, my nation’s creed matches my Catholic one. 

However, Jefferson’s grand pronouncement does not guarantee results. This idea, this brave declaration of the inherent equality of all people, in many ways remains an idea, a theory, one that each American has responsibility for enacting in our country and our world. The Declaration of Independence is not just about equality; the purpose of the document is to argue that a separation from Great Britain is the only possible path to securing these unalienable rights. Today, I’m left to wonder what choices we might need to make in order to secure these rights for those on the margins, for whom the promises of this Declaration have remained unfulfilled. I can think of no better way to honor this remarkable document on its 249th birthday.