This week we commemorate the birth of one of the greatest leaders and visionaries of the 20th Century. A man who made a call for sweeping change in a society that was centuries overdue. Martin Luther King announced that it was finally time that all members of society were “guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” King’s rhetoric embodies the revolutionary spirit that took place almost two hundred years before his time. Founded on the assertion that government’s sole purpose was to protect life, liberty, and property, the United States of America became a beacon of freedom in a world that had only begun to flirt with the idea of democracy. But why was it that two centuries later, these rights that were the basis of our conception were finally coming to the forefront of our culture? Why have these truths that have been held self evident been so blatantly disregarded, and have we completely settled the civil rights frontier within the vision of our founders?
As Americans, we cherish our rights granted by the United States Constitution, acting as a timeless document ensuring justice for all. However, when one looks at the history of our republic, it would appear that the Constitution can be better described as the most palatable interpretation of the writers’ original intent. The actual historical events seem to align better with social norms of the time as opposed to the revolutionary spirit of freedom and justice for all. One does not have to look hard to find that our rights as individuals have not necessarily been guaranteed regardless of our social class, political beliefs, race, gender, religion, or sexuality.
The conflict between the revolutionary spirit and the cultural climate of the time began from our inception. The first Congress heard arguments over the abolishment of the slave trade and gradual emancipation, hoping to seize the moment as Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence still resonated amongst the colonists who broke from the British Empire. Discussion was tabled for years as the threat of secession conquered any hopes of true liberty until the onset of the Civil War. As Lincoln declared in his Gettysburg Address, “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” This glaring example was not the exception, but the rule when it came to the fight for liberty for all the nation’s inhabitants. The assurance of liberty came only from those who possessed the courage to stand up for liberty in all its forms, and from those catalysts we tip the ledger closer to reflect original virtues our forefathers stood for. From the Alien and Sedition Acts that have shown up for over a century to silence and deport anyone boasting revolutionary ideals, to woman’s suffrage and the McCarthy Era marked by mass hysteria and fear, one is hard pressed to find a time period that could unequivocally claim that it truly represented liberty.
If our past has ensured justice only when it lies within the social norms of the time period, then what liberties could still be disregarded in our time? Currently we have a global climate filled with uncertainty with an unprecedented need for security in an insecure world. Political activism and movements are marked with violence and terrorism blurring the line between the will of the people and what is truly in their best interest. We are fighting a war on terror whose players lurk in the shadows of nations torn between the ideals of democracy and the realities of their lives. Amongst a culture of fear where liberties are suspended when the nation encounters a clear and present danger, I leave you with the words of Benjamin Franklin who said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
