The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-04
LIVING SPIRIT OF THE DECLARE
TION OF INDEPENDENCE.

About a year ago a number Of excellent
citizens attracted attention by insisting
that meetings should be held for reading
the Declaration of independence. They had
discovered that it contained a great deal
Of good and particularly a great deal Of
good for those who were dealing with the
peoples who came under the control of the
United States by the treaty with Spain.
Months have elapsed since this advice was
so vehemently impressed upon the people.
but of late we have heard nothing of it.
people knew about the Declaration of indie
pendence, or that it did not contain so much
of good as they had assumed, or that peo-
pie were not disposed TO take their advice.
The assumption that the principles laid
down in the Declaration of independence
are not observed by the government at the
present time will not stand intelligent ex-
animation. On the contrary. it will be found
that with the passing of years, the princi-
Piles of the Declaration lave had a wider
application. The self-evident truth that
all men are created equal and that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain in
alienable rights, among which are life. lib
erty and the pursuit Of happiness APP
piled only TO one race when the Declaration
was made. Jefferson, the author, had many
bondmen, as did several of its signers.
Slavery existed in most of the colonies.
"All men embraced only those who were
white. But, from that time forward, as the
ideas of human rights broadened. the appli-
cation of the principles of the Declaration
broadened. States began to give freedom TO
bondmen. bat the progress was slow. Indi-
ana rejected slavery at the outset. but upon
economic rather than moral grounds. The
Constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1851.
forbade colored men residing within its
borders. AS this refusal was carried by a
vote of more than five to one, it must APP
pear tina the white voters of Indiana. in
1851. did not consider that negroes were
embraced in the "all men" entitled to lib
erty and the pursuit Of happiness. Even
after the war for the Union the Legisla-
ture of Ohio denied suffrage to men in
whose veins there was a visible admix-
ture" Of negro blood. In several Northern
Law IA AOa oAo
ments to the Constitution were resisted,
an Indiana Legislature attempting to set
aside the ratification of the fifteenth
amendment by a previous Legislature.
In the laws Of States the spirit of the
Declaration has been gradually incorpo-
rated since its PRONUNCIATION. The laws in
all the colonies at the time of the war of
- g. - A~-1G. 49,
well-to-do. rather than the masses. Suf-
frage was restricted. and "all men" en-
braced only the well-to-do. Gradually.
legislation has broadened so as TO benefit
the many. The public school system, the
broadening of suffrage. the abolition OF i'm
prisonment for debt, the lien laws in favor
of labor, the sanitary provisions for the
well-being of people employed in factories.
prove conclusively that the principles of the
Declaration are reflected in all the laws re-
lating to the welfare of human beings,
thus showing that the spirit of that i'm
mortal instrument has infused itself into
the minds of the masses.
The inaliena5le rights of the Declaration
are tacitly reserved to men and women who
have come to years of discretion. For min
ors. they are rights held in allegiance. until
they have had the experience and the edu-
cation which will enable them to use these
rights with something of prudence and with
a knowledge of what they are. So with the
children races Of the islands which have
come into our possession; they are minors.
unfit to use the inalienable rights of lib
erty until taught the relation of liberty to
law and in what real liberty consists. They
are being taught as are children And we
may be sure that the government which
sends to those children school teachers
and gives them security to life and prop
erty will not deprive them of any in
alienable rights when they are qualified
10 assume them.