Fireworks, flags, and cookouts mark the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Ever since its signing, July 4, 1776, it has been celebrated as the birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day.
But neither independence from England nor the document itself was ever a foregone conclusion. To appreciate Independence Day, we should review its history.
The “shot heard ‘round the world” was fired on the Wednesday after Easter in 1775. The loyal British colonists of Lexington and Concord never intended to start a war for independence. They wanted only to defend their rights as British citizens.
It would take nearly a year before the “long train of abuses and usurpations” caused North Carolina to became the first colony to call for independence from the Crown. Within weeks, seven other colonies joined the chorus.
By June 11, 1776, after heated debate, the Continental Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Livingston to draft a formal statement of independence. Seventeen days later, this committee unanimously submitted their draft to the 56 delegates.
Before their work became the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress debated behind closed doors between July 2 and 4, 1776.
Most consequentially, the committee of five had listed among the long train of abuses and usurpations, an indictment of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. That paragraph was deleted.
The deleted paragraph declared that the King had “waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither…”
Decades later, it still troubled Jefferson. He blamed the delegates from South Carolina and Georgia along with northern delegates who represented those involved in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade for deleting the paragraph.
Even to the casual reader, this paragraph highlights an obvious violation of the central principle of the entire Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”
For good reason, the deletion of this paragraph has been interpreted as a contradiction. In toxic times, it is exploited to discredit the entire American founding.
On the other hand, those who signed the Declaration apparently concluded that its deletion was a necessary compromise. It kept all 13 colonies united and enabled all 56 members of the Continental Congress to sign on unanimously.
Could the Revolutionary War have been won with only 11 colonies? Would America exist if the Declaration had not been unanimous? Only God knows.
But no one can deny that their decision to kick the can down the road did not avoid the problem.
In 1787 the evil of chattel slavery threatened to scuttle the constitutional convention. So, they kicked the can again.
In the decades that followed, the issue of slavery continued to divide congress, courts, and the states themselves. Eventually, it led to a terrible Civil War. Still, today, it’s awful aftershocks continue.
This history of the infamous “deleted paragraph” gives us opportunity to think about today’s political scene.
Every day - in city councils, county commissions, state assemblies, and in the halls of Congress - elected representatives of the people are debating how to balance principles with pragmatics.
Timeless, eternal truths shine brightly like the North Star. Principles like the sanctity of life, sanctity of marriage, and sanctity of conscience guide our deliberations even when the fog of war clouds our vision.
But even those who clearly see the principle disagree vigorously on how to proceed. The northward journey may require detours. As you know well in this mountainous state, “sometimes you can’t get there from here.”
The deleted paragraph, however, does make several things clear.
First, history is a harsh judge. Future generations can never fully appreciate the social and economic pressures of an era as do those who live in it. Nevertheless, posterity will see the principles involved more clearly than we see them ourselves.
Second, because principles are always clearer for posterity than for contemporaries, those who are tone-deaf to principles will be judged most harshly of all.
Third, the deleted paragraph demonstrates how kicking the can down the road never solves the problem. More often, it makes the problem worse and its solution more costly.
Fourth, no truth can be suppressed forever. What was once deleted out of political expediency is now undeniable.
The King of the Universe will always have His way. In the end, both Britain and America outlawed chattel slavery - one through Parliament, one through war.
In the end, God will right every wrong. Our task is to be faithful in our generation. God’s task is to bring the results.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
