Keep These Words from the Declaration in Mind

By Ed Epstein

Washington, D.C.

Sept. 29, 2025

Preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence, Jefferson Memorial, Washington, DC Credit: “317_1745” by David, CC BY 2.0

Lincoln250.org is all about Abraham Lincoln's views on the founding of our nation some 250 years ago, and the impact those views had during the tumultuous years of his presidency during the Civil War and continue to have today.

President Lincoln said the Declaration of Independence was the touchstone of his political views -- that all people were created equal, and that everybody should have a fair shot at getting ahead in life to the best of their abilities. To begin to understand this, it first is important to see exactly what the Declaration, adopted in July 1776, said and to think about the meaning of those words, words that have been parsed, analyzed, debated and still are.

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

"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, --That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." 

The Founding Fathers -- they were all men in the Continental Congress -- knew that they were launching a revolution, seeking to break away from King George III and the British government in London. They realized that they had to lay out their reasons for taking such a fateful step, so the Declaration went on at length to lay out the American colonists' grievances that led to such a drastic action.

Unfair taxation, no representation of America in Parliament in London, military occupation, seizure of property, stifling of trade, the list goes on.

They ended with ringing words that showed their awareness that they had taken drastic action. "For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

For the Declaration's full text, go to https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript