Blessings back then

Our Self-Evident TruthsThe old words still ring through the corridors of time:”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.”When Thomas Jefferson wrote those noble phrases, approved by that small band of remarkable men, this nation was a loose confederation of colonies with scarcely 2 million people, but their Declaration of Independence raised for all men everywhere a banner against tyranny. And so it has been for 196 years. The new nation opened its gates to the oppressed of the earth and the oppressed came by the millions, beckoned by the hope of freedom under a charter that attested the worth and dignity of every human being — except black slaves. But the words of the declaration could not be denied. As long as slavery endured, they were a reproach to the conscience of the nation. And so the men of the new nation, not yet a century old, met on the battlefield to decide whether a nation “so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” The union was preserved and the principle of human equality was reaffirmed. And now, more than a century after the Civil War and nearly two centuries after the founders gathered in Philadelphia in 1776, the nation still stands. The Declaration of Independence has weathered the storms of war and peace. Its promises have been fulfilled for millions and not for other millions. Yet the words have lost none of their appeal. They remain a reproach when the nation falters in its dedication to human equality and they remain an inspiration to press on toward the goal set in 1776.