Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-07-07
Mistaken as TO His Text.

DR.. Frank Gunsaulus is rated, and
justly so, as one of the most brilliant
orators and educators in America, but
evidently the learned doctor should
read the Declaration of Independence
before he delivers any more denuncia-
tons upon it. The following is a Chi
cage dispatch recently printed in the
Washington Post:
Dr. Frank GunsauIus delivered the bac-
calaureate address at the Auditorium to
the graduating class Of Armour institute
today.
There was never a more interesting
falsehood than All men are created free
and equal, said he. "The Declaration
Of Independence was the work of an hour
of intense excitement, and on every ma
tional anniversary this phrase is mis-
quoted because when it is taken from it's
context it is false. Freedom is something
to be won. Men are not born free. Ev-
cry power into whose control a man
comes is a conquered freedom. There are
no equals in this universe of Gods. God
is no Socialist"
Whether God is a Socialist | do not
know, but do know that the Declara-
ton of Independence does not contain
the sentence which DIR. Gunsaulus says
it does, certainly not the word Gree"
on which he bases his caustic criticism
What he was trying to quote was this:
'.All men are created equal" not free
and equal" The doctor should refresh
his memory as to that immortal docu-
ment before he jumps on it again. He
owes it to himself and the world so to
do, for he speaks as one having author
ity, and an error promulgated by him
in his terse and pleasing style will be
accepted as truth by many without
doubt and without investigation AS
this letter will be published about July
4, it viii not be considered inapropos
to set forth the magnificent and thrill
ing paragraph from which he was try
ing to quote, for nobody believes for
a moment that man of such high
character purposely misquoted from
the charter of our liberty Here is the
paragraph as adopted and promulgated
by the fathers:
eve hold these truths to be self evi-
dent-that all men are created equal
that they are endowed by their Creator
with unalienable rights; that among
these are life. liberty and the pursuit
of happiness; that to secure these rights
governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed; that when
ever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends it is the right
of the people to alter or abolish it and
foundation on such principles and or
ganizing its powers in such form as to
them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness"
Jefferson never wrote and the fathers
never declared that "all men are ere
ated free" If they had done 50 the
statement by DR.. Gunsaulus that
''there never was a more interesting
falsehood" would have been true, for
on the 4th day of July, 1776, very few
men were free, and the men who
risked their necks by signing the Dec
laration not only knew that, but also
knew that they themselves We're en-
gagged in d fierce struggle with the
greatest empire in the world to secure
their own freedom. So it would have
been preposterous for them to have
said that s'all men are created free,
and that band of patriots and sages
and heroes were not engaged in doing
preposterous things or in saying them
DR.. Glnsaulus puts the word free in
to their mouths and then denounces as
an interesting falsehood what he says
they said, but which they never said.
A little further along they declare that
men are endowed with inalienable