Unalienable Rights --1776 and 2026

Terre Haute Tribune Star, July 3, 2026

Readers’ Forum – Obtaining fullness of ‘unalienable rights’

             "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” — Samuel Johnson 

Dwayne Owens (Terre Haute Tribune Star, “In a patriotic season,” June 23, 2026) deserves our thanks. It is a good thing to think about patriotism and our nation’s origins as we celebrate 250 years of achievement and struggle.

We too often take the achievements for granted. But Owens, as with so many, demonstrates the inclination to go silent, ignore, or attempt to hide the elements keeping us from fulfilling the aspirations so eloquently stated in our founding document, the Declaration of Independence.

“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.”

The “all men” the Founding Fathers referred to in this justly famous and challenging passage did not include those in slavery. As Frederick Douglass thundered in 1852, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

And four years earlier, at Seneca Falls, New York, a convention of women and male supporters (including Frederick Douglass) also brought the “all men” limitation to light.

The Declaration of Sentiments, their founding document, paraphrased the 1776 Declaration. It rang out: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, . . . . “ And with determined clarity the 1848 revolutionaries stated: “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.”

Names of patriots, known and unknown today, courageously signed the Declaration of Independence. They “mutually pledg[ed] to each other [their] Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor.” They knew what they were doing.

Today, after 250 years, the descendants of slaves and the women of this nation persist in their struggle to obtain the fullness of “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” They know what they are doing.

           “No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.” — Barbara Ehrenreich 

— Gary Daily, Terre Haute