As a historian of the United States and the coordinator for the University of Richmond's Forging a New Nation initiative, which commemorates the Declaration of Independence's 250th anniversary, I have been thinking a lot about this phenomenon. Particularly during times of social and political upheaval, Americans have sought out the Declaration of Independence when they wanted to remedy contemporary problems and create new visions for the country's future. Many of the nation's greatest leaders have praised and memorialized its rhetoric and ideas in the promotion of their own. In his 1852 speech 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July'' Frederick Douglass, the formerly enslaved abolitionist, used the declaration to set a standard for American society. As a Black American, Douglass insisted he was 'not included within the pale' who enjoyed the 'inalienable rights' articulated in the declaration. Nonetheless, the 'great principles of the Declaration' gave Douglass hope and cause for...
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