On Mon, March 26, 2007 5:42 pm, kelsey hudson wrote: > Christian Seberino wrote: >> On Mon, March 26, 2007 1:33 pm, kelsey hudson wrote: >>> "...God-given rights..." did not directly mean rights given to all >>> people by an absolute deity creator-persona; instead, it meant "rights >>> granted upon all people by virtue of being people." >> >> And you know this how? > > Because, the text reads: > > "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." > > And we know, Jefferson being a Deist, that his Creator had no effect on > peoples' lives past creating the universe. Thus, by direct inference, > its proper meaning is, "rights granted upon all people by virtue of > being people," quod erat demonstratum. > >
Actually, and I have no evidence for this, I personally believe Jefferson was faced with a big dilemma in drafting that document and he wrote those words as a clever end run. Imagine if he had written "We hold these truths to be a pretty good idea, ... and that they are endowed, because it just makes sense , with ...." Now the Colonies and the King are engaged in a battle of opinions. But Jefferson was too smart for that. He made it a matter of "Natural Law," and took discussion off the table. Have I mentioned how much I really admire Thomas Jefferson? -- Lan Barnes SCM Analyst Linux Guy Tcl/Tk Enthusiast Biodiesel Brewer -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
