A Gift

Any political movement should be able to state its basis, and by that I mean its highest value and its goals in governing. It may also include a theory of political change, including revolution:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 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 governed,–That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Jefferson begins with an assertion of human equality, which is often discussed. But to me the most remarkable part of this famous sentence is a theory of political legitimacy and revolutionary change which is founded upon a gift from God. God has given humanity certain inalienable rights. You might object and say that that the “Creator” is merely a figure of speech, a flourish of eighteenth-century prose. But Jefferson’s phrasing is too close to the justification for absolute monarchy: the Divine Right of Kings. The absolute monarchies of pre-modern Europe rested on the assertion of a political right to rule conferred by God on kings.

An obvious question might be, what political rights did God confer on the rest of us? If the answer is “none,” then that’s seemingly inconsistent with Christian belief. After all, we all have souls, we are all created by God and saved by Christ, we all receive the same sacraments and we will all stand in judgment before God. We recite the same prayers at the graves of both kings and beggars; Christianity implies spiritual equality. Granted, God might not give exactly the same political rights to both kings and commoners, but still—the masses must certainly get something?

And Jefferson’s memorable answer is: “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That is God’s gift to us.

And what Jefferson doesn’t say is also informative: there is no mention of any rights God might have given Kings—such as the right to rule—or the right of aristocrats to their lands and serfs and privileges. And perhaps most conspicuous by its absence is no mention of any charter or covenant for any particular church, or all churches.

And these rights are not given merely to some ethnic group or class, but to all men. Nor does he speak of clans or identities; there is no particularism in his vision.

Jefferson does not discuss why the Spirit gave us this gift.

It follows from the sacredness of these rights that governments exist only to secure them, and that if a government “becomes destructive of these ends” then it loses legitimacy and the people have a “Right…to alter or replace it.” This right must also be inalienable, by Jefferson’s logic. And clearly, if the government is headed by a king, the people have a right to remove him.

This is a concise statement of the basis and purpose of the American Revolution. The basis is a gift from God; the purpose is to realize the full potential of that gift.

[The foregoing discussion is not intended to drive people to watch the 700 Club or give money to Liberty University. In modern times, “God” has become an evangelical brand, and His Name is relentlessly monetized. I’m talking about the God that was never trademarked or patented, the one people used to worship because they felt the spirit move within them.]