While it is true that the Constitution of the United States is the highest law of the land, it should be recognized that the Constitution was not ratified until 1788, whereas the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. This signifies that the call to arms was never the Constitution, for it was written and ratified after America’s independence from Great Britain had been established, but rather the seminal founding document of the United States was and still is, its Declaration of Independence.
This thus duly signifies that each and every citizen of this nation needs to know the Declaration of Independence, for within this document are the principles which this country, at its best, duly stands for. That is to say, this is a nation founded upon the proposition that all men are created equal, and that their Creator has gifted all of them, without exception, with certain unalienable rights. The significance of knowing this means that those who put one race above all others, or one religious faith as superior to all others, have failed to recognize that all of us have been created equally, and therefore, prejudices of this kind that purport that certain people and certain religious beliefs are superior to all others have no standing within America. So too, those in our legislatures, and of our present-day government, need to always recognize that infringing upon our unalienable rights is anathema to that Declaration of Independence, and hence those of our representatives who infringe upon those rights are not being true to that Declaration of Independence.
Indeed, it needs to be recognized forthrightly that we are a nation that is governed upon the prevailing principle that the just powers of that government come forth from the consent of the governed, and therefore for this government or its representatives to lord it over the people, is not just a bastardization of what our Declaration so declares, but is at odds to what this country was so founded upon, and fought so valiantly for, which is why those in the highest echelons of government need to be fully cognizant that they are the people’s representatives, and therefore should not and must not be beholden to favor elites and special interests against the people.
All of the above has massive significance for all of us, because those who are not in tune and therefore unfaithful to our Declaration of Independence deserve to be seen as those who have betrayed their duty to that Declaration and hence should not be accorded the people’s respect or the people’s approval. It is imperative for not only our citizenry but also for those who govern us that they recognize that our valorous revolution for our independence was done under the firm belief that such independence, courageously fought with blood, sweat, and tears, was meant for the betterment of the people, their society, and for the liberty of all, now and forevermore.