Actually, they just claimed the freedom to keep killing the natives, and bring slaves from Africa, and indentured servants from Europe for that matter. They WERE the 1% of their day, the just DID have more wisdom than the current ones.
Here’s my two cents. The interpretation here needs some knowledge of punctuation practices as the time. Modern punctuation had not yet hardened into the system we use now, and in particular the sentence as we know it had not yet complete replaced what was called a “period” (nowadays, a “periodic sentence”. Modern versions of texts often modernize the punctuation, so readers often don’t see the original punctuation and don’t realize how different it can be. (I’ve done some work on the texts of Jane Austen, who was later, but still didn’t use modern punctuation.)In this case, all of the subordinate clauses beginning “that” should be taken as parallel — the periods and dashes are not strong as they would be in a modern sentence. So here is the way it should work:+“We hold these truths to be self-evident(1) that all men are created equal(2) that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights(3) that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness(4) That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,(5)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.+So he’s making five points, all parallel. All of these subordinate clauses depend on the initial clause, “We hold these truths to be self-evident”.
If those four truths are so self-evident, why then:- Does the U.S. lose more life through guns, violence, and war than any other nation in the world?- Why is the U.S. rated seventeenth in the “Happiness factor,” which is a measure of quality of life, just behind Mexico?- Why does every other Western nation have at least as much freedom and liberty than the U.S. and many have more?
Jason Allen almost 10 years ago
Yes, but only the freedoms agreed to by the moral minority.
ColonelClaus almost 10 years ago
Just remember… Freedom without responsibility is anarchy.
Dry and Dusty Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Well done, STEVE!
Dtroutma almost 10 years ago
Actually, they just claimed the freedom to keep killing the natives, and bring slaves from Africa, and indentured servants from Europe for that matter. They WERE the 1% of their day, the just DID have more wisdom than the current ones.
lonecat almost 10 years ago
Here’s my two cents. The interpretation here needs some knowledge of punctuation practices as the time. Modern punctuation had not yet hardened into the system we use now, and in particular the sentence as we know it had not yet complete replaced what was called a “period” (nowadays, a “periodic sentence”. Modern versions of texts often modernize the punctuation, so readers often don’t see the original punctuation and don’t realize how different it can be. (I’ve done some work on the texts of Jane Austen, who was later, but still didn’t use modern punctuation.)In this case, all of the subordinate clauses beginning “that” should be taken as parallel — the periods and dashes are not strong as they would be in a modern sentence. So here is the way it should work:+“We hold these truths to be self-evident(1) that all men are created equal(2) that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights(3) that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness(4) That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,(5)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.+So he’s making five points, all parallel. All of these subordinate clauses depend on the initial clause, “We hold these truths to be self-evident”.
Gypsy8 almost 10 years ago
If those four truths are so self-evident, why then:- Does the U.S. lose more life through guns, violence, and war than any other nation in the world?- Why is the U.S. rated seventeenth in the “Happiness factor,” which is a measure of quality of life, just behind Mexico?- Why does every other Western nation have at least as much freedom and liberty than the U.S. and many have more?
Crabbyrino Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Thank you Lonecat. The most succinct structure I have ever read.