Dear Declaration of Independence,
I grew up thinking you truly believed all men were created equal. It’s clear I was wrong.
How can you claim that everyone is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness when the people who created you owned men, women, and children? You insist that these rights will be instilled by the government, but why did the document outlining this government suggest that slaves were only considered 3⁄5 of a person? You are oversimplified and flowery and do your best to cover up the disgusting people who created you.
You are hypocritical in theory and in principle. You appear to instill hope and support for all people, you give America the credit of being this welcoming and perfect nation when we, in reality, are a far cry from either of those things. I have found you to be the cause of my misinformed idea of America and I’m sure that can be said for many others. The singular thing that annoys me the most about you is your opening line. “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”. Nearly every part of this sentence annoys me. To start out, I would like to point out that these truths were not and still aren’t self-evident; they are not outright implied by our country and the people running it. Not only do these ideas contradict the abundance of racism in our country but don’t even get me started on the fact that you specifically went out of your way to say “men” when the word people would easily suffice. Secondly, you suggest these rights are unalienable, that they can never be taken away, but not only have rights been taken away throughout the history of this country, but most rights were never there to start with. I find it hard to put into words how I feel about you because you stir up so much anger. The ideas you suggest sound ideal, they sound like a nation that I would want to be a part of, with a government that I would support. However, the document that outlines the government you speak of has racist ideals and while not outright supporting slavery neither of you two did anything to condeem it.
You have always had your own definition for an American citizen and that has never changed. Your idea of a “man” is not even a man, but specifically a white land-owning man. You and the ideas you were formed with are the reason that, to this day, white rich men are the leaders in this country.
Thank you for being the reason that racial minorities, women, and members of the lower classes are STILL often underpaid and under-appreciated.
Sincerely,
an unamused and unimpressed college student