Our Living Declaration of Independence (1950)

[Music] my name is Ronald Clark I'm a deterent publisher of the news I want to report an experience I had a real experience I came out of my office to have a look at our annual 4th of July parade I always enjoy a parade seems most people do but it was my job to write it up for the paper so I started asking myself questions what's it all about why do we still commemorate the declaration of independence does it mean what does it mean today [Music] then I have the ID of calling on Karl hustles the parade had just passed the hostel man home when I arrived Karl had been watching it with his wife Bertha and his daughter Marjorie we always tried to have our children home for every holiday excuse me mr. Hart but I must have suffered the boys will be hungry you'll stay of course oh thank you but I cost you stay for supper oh if I need you I'll call you stay here and see the father doesn't slap them mr. Hart's ears now then man as you were say well about this celebration today yes why do we have it do we know what it means or is it possible in our Declaration of Independence is a thing of the past that no longer has any meaning for us no meaning why it has all meaning it means our country our freedom our dignity as men all very alike yes those are Nova words we use them quite a bit but can we be more specific you'll be specific it is you have gone to college it is you out teaching school oh crap that's why I'm interested in learning more well let's put it this way where would we be today if there had been no Declaration of Independence I know where we would be if we had no declaration of independence I was there you know of course that I am an immigrant yes in the old country my father was a peasant farmer the land was good the crops were good our friends were good these friends too were peasants and their parents and their grandparents and their ancestors as far back as anyone knew now the children the children would be peasants and the children's children and the grandchildren we were peasants eternally up on the hill there was a castle a grand castle centuries old and as old as the castle was the name of the family that lived there they were Nobles and the castle was theirs eternally you cannot know what it means to have your life decided for you before you are born and the reason the reason you may not know is that in 1776 the Declaration of Independence said it was wrong and the Declaration still says that it is wrong will you come inside sir but since your life was so set over there what are you doing here how did you work break away this is how much the Declaration of Independence means to me I'd keep it close to me now because once it was so far away hardly more than a dream back in the old country we heard tales about the Declaration of Independence about this land where wealth was plentiful and living was easy these tales were told for generations in each generation some men would break their ancient chains of bondage and fight their way into the new world and have you found your wonderful well your easy living I found no streets paved the cold I have worked hard all my life I am comfortable I am a free man my children are free oh yeah that's me means to get one every year you come in on a very interesting conversation conversation monologue is more likely please mrs. Castleman this is important to me your husband is helping me to a new understanding of the Declaration of Independence you see oh well I meant only try marching in the parade then you'll understand how do you mean a new understanding I'd always thought of the Declaration is well as a staple of separation from England oh but it's so much more than that I mean this piece up Marjorie that is here but you teach the youngsters in school well if mr. Hart would really be interested in what I have to certainly be interested well I like to think of the Declaration of Independence as a portable document it is as you say first of all a declaration of a separation it begins when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and later declared but these United colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown second it is an appeal to the sympathies of the world the colonists recognized and wrote that a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation third it is a battle calling upon the men of the colonies to rise up and they're right mutually pledging to each other their lives their fortunes and their sacred honor finally as written by Thomas Jefferson it is a brilliant statement of an ancient doctrine of the rights of man 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 government thank you you helped me find the answer to my question she understands excuse us we must have kept your separate but please speak loudly we wish not to miss what you say so you speak of a country founded on those principles yeah the question is what does it mean today no your daughter's first point was that the Declaration of Independence was a declaration of separation I grant you that we're all affected by that if we were still subjects of the British crown or even of the British Empire we might all live differently in some ways probably no more differently than our Canadian neighbors live today but no they too might be living quite differently if there had been no declaration of independence also recall Marjorie saying that it was also an appeal to the sympathies of the world it helped bring on the French Revolution it inspired men everywhere to demand their rights in England in South America and look at me they did not reach out across the ocean and transform me from a peasant into a free man and look at my children these fine boys Marjorie and the others you know them consider the priceless treasure of freedom that is their birthright they're right yes but also their obligation ah true obligations and duties must always come before rights this was so even with the Declaration of Independence itself the many responsible for it they held a profound sense of duty to themselves to their families and to their neighbors say Dada yes may I think something but of course with it it's funny but I'm beginning to understand something in the guide they talked about it being our job our duty to guide the heritage of feed him they tell us our freedom was won in battle and it's taken several Wars to to protect it and the main reason we're in the guard is to be ready to defend it again if we have to so you fill up bar one of today's Minutemen and the Declaration of Independence is still a battle cry and were it not for the Declaration of Independence my boys instead might fight and die so that some king or dictator might extend his tyranny over several million more peasants yeah yeah it kind of makes sense now you know I'm sort of glad I marched in that parade but freedom or no freedom my dog I really feel great but aren't all these things really summed up in the fourth point Marjorie made that the Declaration of Independence is a statement of the rights of man you are right son that is why I came to the United States where the Declaration of Independence gave birth to a government who's just powers are derived from the consent of the government a government which assures us our right of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness yeah okay dad are you happy am I happy I am you can be as I understand the pursuit of happiness it means the right of each individual under law to seek his own highest good according to his own understanding and ability while tolerating and trying to understand the ways of others in doing the same that makes sense and it helps explain this idea that all men are created equal now anybody knows that all men are not born alike take the job I'm on I'm supervising this housebuilding job for mr. Hinman I've got all sorts of men working for me no two of them are alike some are hardworking some are lazy some are smart some are dumb no they aren't born alike but they're born equal under the law and before God with equality of opportunity now they're not equal in wealth some have more money than others none of them has as much money as the man they're building this house for neither do I for that matter but there's nothing to stop me from making it and I mean to do it you see mr. Hart I went to college and I'm still learning every way I can on the job out of books I'm going to have my own construction company a big one and if the girl is too big for this town I'll move to a bigger town I'm going to beat somebody well is the heart sick how's that for the son of an immigrant yeah I believe you'll do it too not me one big businessman in the family is enough the only time I'm happiest when I'm working on cars I'm gonna be a mechanic but the best in town do you see what freedom has done for these children of a peasant farmer one a businessman one a mechanic one schoolteacher and and one a bus driver and two more farmers and they own their own town Supper's ready you see all equal each free to seek his own highest good according to his own understanding and ability and each free to think his own thoughts I can tell you well that's how I found a new angle for my story on the fourth of July celebration and I found a great deal or I found new meaning in the Declaration of Independence and in our celebration I found living proof that it is not a dead historical document but like the Bible a vital force and a guide to our living today I decided to challenge my readers as I now challenge you what does the Declaration of Independence mean to you how is your life better because of the Declaration of Independence in what ways do you live and pact and think only because there is a Declaration of Independence how is the hope of the entire world brighter because of the Declaration of Independence [Music]