Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-03
FEAR OF IDEALlSM DID NOT
DISTURB THOMAS JEFFERSON
And in Consequence We Have the Lofty
Standards of the Declaration With
Their lncaIcuIable Effect on Both
American and World History

to hackneyed proclamation of their belief
! that standards Of perfection are unat-
tainable.
They are warranted in pointing out
that the noblest doctrines in their exact
meaning have been the most frequently
disregarded
They are justified in emphasizing the
failure of erring mankind to live up
scrupulousy to his fairest formulas Of
! conduct.
But they cannot deny the existence of
! the United States of America.
Here is the most formidable Of all OBJ
stacles on tho ra@N # .ho;~ s-onticism
Its habit of looming particularly large on
| the Fourth Of each July serves a ueyrer
! purpose than that of merely supplying
! the 'orator Of the day" with rubber
stamp "inspiration' for his magnlo-
quence.
To the fag-waving metaphors and
rhetorical bunk" of Independence Day.
the public has been long Injured and the
realist is quite within his province in
scorning it. The eXtravagant picture of
ourselves and what we have accomplished
carries scant conviction to thinking
minds, and at no time less than IN the
year 1919, when so many inherited preju-
dices and beliefs seem to have become
ashes of a world conflagrat.on and the
impression prevails that tn, whole spir-
itual structure of civilization has to be
built up anew.
But the true scene is neither so forid
as the Platform enthusiast paints it nor
so dark as that drawn by the tinid pessi-
mists mentally stultifed by the wreckage
of universal strife. Were it possible for
the average American who will hear the
Declaration of Independence read as the
regulation feature Of tomorrow's events
to regard that document as though he
had been hitherto unacquainted with it,
the stabilizing effect on his mental proc
esses would be exceedingly valid and
proof against the misgivings of alarmists
contemptuous of ideals.
The present inspiration is all in the
preamble. The cited wrongs committed
by a Hanoverian king of Great Britain
are readily acceptable as facts. They
offer no problems for dispute. Neither
| does the majestic assertion Of independ-
ence nor the eternally ringing pledge in
support of it by the signatories.
What remains is a proclamation of
political philosophy, an assertion of
| fundamental principles of extreme no
bility and idealistic grandeur.
Scholarship informs us that jefferson
had proftably digested John Locke's two
"Treatises on Government" and was
moreover strongly influenced by the 80
cial Contract" OF Rousseau. But what
! ever is the basic origin, it is hardly argu-
able that the formula expressed was re-
Elective not of eighteenth century cond-
tions, but Of eighteenth century hopes.
The three classic rights with which all
men are held to be endowed by their
Creator" have often been proved alien
able. Particularly could this be demon
strated in slave holding America of
1776.
History since that date has at times
had bitter way of questioning the state
ment that to secure these rights govern
ments are instituted among men, ode
irving their just powers from the consent
of the governed" Yet Jefferson when he
wrote those flaming words and ever aft
erward in his zestful life had in them
faith inherently without qualms.
So did the fifty-six signers.
SO did the American people.
And the sacred inspiratOnal fire has
survived every clutch of circumstance.
Sheer idealism based upon "the laws of
nature and of natures God" became an
unquenchable luminary in the guidance
4 of great nation. What folly to misprize
Il
animal fell short of his own lofty stand
ards AS we'll might one decry religion
for its failure to make humanity fawless.
: But what can be examined without
apologize sentiments is the extraor-
dinary and persistent influence which the
rarifed political idealism Of the Declara.
tion eXerted upon every governmental in
= stitution in America, a control which is
: | unrelaXed in nearly century and half
The constitution could not defy these
e tenets. By 1887 they were firmly i'm
f planted in the popular consciousness anc
S their effect in determining the grea
r charter of the states was profound
= Within two years the so-callcd "bill o
S rights" concretely confirming the peopl
h in the possession Of those fundamental
S of liberty broadly defined by the Declara
ton, was passed. The feeling, whethe
Y justified or not, that the constitution ha
: been negligent concerning "inalienable
o political principles was irresistible.
n Nearly all the amendments breathe
e similar spirit, a steady progress towar
}. approximation of philOsophically incou
s trovertible ideals. The justification O
e the Jeffersonian doctrine, at least in on
n regard, is unmistakable in the thirteent
n article, with its prohibition of SLAYER!
: To multiply examples would be to reves
d a digest of great part of all America
i legislation, federal, state and municipa
e National boundaries have been repeat
d edly crossed. Witness the French RevC