That,
to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Every student will find his comprehension of American literature aided by a
careful study of this _Declaration_. This trumpet-tongued declaration of
the fact that every man has an equal right with every other man to his own
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness has served as an ideal to
inspire some of the best things in our literature. This ideal has not yet
been completely reached, but it is finding expression in every effort for
the social and moral improvements of our population. Jefferson went a step
beyond the old Puritans in maintaining that happiness is a worthy object of
pursuit. Modern altruists are also working on this line, demanding a fuller
moral and industrial liberty, and endeavoring to develop a more widespread
capacity for happiness.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1757-1804), because of his wonderful youthful
precocity, reminds us of Jonathan Edwards (p. 50). In 1774, at the age of
seventeen, Hamilton wrote in answer to a Tory who maintained that England
had given New York no charter of rights, and that she could not complain
that her rights had been taken away:--
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old
parchments or musty records.
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