Life - - - Liberty - - - Pursuit of Happiness

In the Declaration of Independence, Congress sets forth the justification for the dissolution of the political bands which connected them to English government and rule. Most people forget that this is not merely the declaration of Thomas Jefferson, but the Declaration of Congress.

Most people also forget that these words are the beginning of the Declaration: “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.”

Congress reached a unanimous decision! This Declaration is a UNANIMOUS Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.

Wow!

What united them so completely? Was it the wisdom and beliefs of Thomas Jefferson?

Hardly.

No. It was what they unanimously held to be true. They easily accepted with complete agreement “these truths to be self-evident.”

What truths?

. . . that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

The union was based upon belief in the single Creator embraced by all. The rights of men were believed to be endowed by this Creator of all in whom these legislators and their constituents all professed to believe. They unanimously professed in this Declaration their belief in this Creator, the same Creator that was professed by the various States. This Creator is the one proclaimed in the Bible. While they were not unanimous in the manner of worship nor in the faith given by this Creator, they were unanimous in the belief that the Creator declared in the Bible is the source of all the rights that they openly and unanimously declared in this Declaration.

In this unanimous Declaration they declare that three rights in particular exist by this endowment of the Creator: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Notice the order of what is declared. Life is first, then Liberty, then the pursuit of Happiness. Thus the first right of human beings is the Right to Life. Without this right there can be no Liberty. Without Life and without Liberty there can be no pursuit of Happiness.

This is why today the nation stands divided and is being conquered. First of all, the very source of human rights is denied in many ways. Some deny the Creator altogether. Some allow that He exists, but do not declare Him as the Creator that the Bible declares. Some are so bold as to deny that the founders even counted this Creator as the basis of the nation. With such division, how can the Rights acknowledged in the Declaration be defended? When the foremost of these Rights is denied to some, how can it be guaranteed for anyone? And when the foremost of the Rights is in jeopardy, how can the Rights that flow from it not also be jeopardized?

Some today insist that to base one’s political commitment upon the single issue of Life is foolishness. Yet if the first Congress had not done so, we would not even have the nation nor the Constitution by which this nation is supposed to be governed.

Is this not food for thought for those who criticize those Pro-Life voters whom they label as single issue voters?

In the end, is there really any other issue?



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Then we have the final sentence of this unanimous Declaration:

And 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.