Jefferson may have borrowed some of his ideas from _Magna Charta_
(1215) and the _Petition of Right_ (1628); he may have incorporated
in this _Declaration_ the yearnings that thousands of human souls had
already felt, but he voiced those yearnings so well that his utterances
have become classic. It has been said that he "poured the soul of the
continent" into that _Declaration_, but he did more than that. He poured
into it the soul of all freedom-loving humanity, and he was accepted as the
spokesman of the dweller on the Seine as enthusiastically as of the
revolutionists in America. Those who have misconstrued the meaning of his
famous expression, "All men are created equal" have been met with the
adequate reply, "No intelligent man has ever misconstrued it except
intentionally."
America has no _Beowulf_ celebrating the slaying of land-devastating
monsters, but she has in this _Declaration_ a deathless battle song against
the monsters that would throttle Liberty. Outside of Holy Writ, what words
are more familiar to our ears than these?--
"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.
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