Discussion:Pt 2 of Declaration of Independence:Inventions & Distortions of Reality&HIstory

Discussion on Part 2 of the Declaration of Independence(and related questions): Inventions and Distortions of Reality and History- In the Service of Real and Repeated Atrocity
Friday July 3rd 7pm
Revolution Books 2444 Durant Avenue Berkeley

Part 2: Rights Are Not "Endowed" by "God," and "To Secure These Rights" Is Not the Reason Governments Are Established, from the series:

Excerpt from part 2:
"The title of this article is an echo—and refutation—of this famous passage from the Declaration of Independence:

"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 the Governed.

"As I will show in this article: Every major part of this statement, and this statement as a whole, contains inventions and distortions of reality and history, which have been utilized in the service of real and repeated atrocity, on the part of those who have “governed” this country, throughout its history.

"On the most obvious level, there is the striking hypocrisy of signers of the Declaration of Independence, many of whom were slave-owners—including Thomas Jefferson, the author of this Declaration. (The main author of the U.S. Constitution, James Madison, was also a slave-owner, and the same is true of four of the first five presidents of this country: Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.) As further graphic illustrations of the glaring hypocrisy of prominent people in the American Revolution, along with Patrick Henry, who proclaimed “Give me liberty, or give me death,” while he himself was a slave-owner, there is also the example of Richard Henry Lee, who conducted a public parade in Virginia denouncing the British-imposed Stamp Act’s “chains of slavery,” while he literally used his slaves to hold the protest banners!1"