"[A]ll men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights. . . among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty."
--George Mason, Declaration of rights for Virginia, quoted in McCullough, John Adams.
(Photo from Creative Commons)
2 comments:
To those who would ask, What about the slaves? the answer is that, yes, at the time words such as these were enshrined into the bedrock of our nation there were many men and women who were not equally free and independent. This reality being obvious, should we conclude that Jefferson, Mason, et al were hypocrites of the most outrageous sort? Or can we consider that they knew full well that their words did not reflect the present reality, yet, remarkably, they wrote them anyway. Can we agree that these words were not intended to represent their present reality but rather to set forth an ideal, a dream, a hoped-for goal. And I would submit that if words such as these had not been written into our founding documents, slavery may still be around. Instead, it is only a nightmarish memory of a far less egalitarian time in our history.
A very wise perspective, Dave. Surely a man as wise as Jefferson understood the contradiction between his own example and the ideal set forth in his immortal words. And surely the same is true of George Mason. Which leads inevitably to the perspective you bring to the table here, Dave.
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