This year, July 4th is more than a day of backyard picnics and fireworks; it's a celebration of a 250-year-old document that forms the basis of the United States: the Declaration of Independence.

 

In essence, the document is a list of grievances against the King of England, which the signatories use to justify 1) why they no longer want to be under the King's control and 2) why they want to become independent as an independent country made up of 13 colonies.

 

It is not a perfect document. The most famous phrase is this: “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.” The authors’ use of the term “men” does not refer to all men, but only to white men who owned property.

 

However, over the past 250 years, citizens of the United States have sought to broaden the meaning of equality in this document to make it inclusive, especially with regard to voting.

 

After the Civil War, all men, without exception, who were U.S. citizens could be denied the right to vote. Women did not gain this right until 1920. All Native Americans were finally able to vote in 1948. Asians gained citizenship and the right to vote in 1943.

 

But, through the use of literacy tests, poll taxes, as well as English-only applications and ballots, white men, and later white women, continued to prevent all American citizens from voting.

 

The prohibition of the poll tax by the 24th Amendment and the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally meant that the right to vote could not be denied on the grounds of race or color.

 

Why do we feel like we're going backward in time? Because our voting rights are under attack again. We must reclaim that famous phrase from the Declaration of Independence and interpret "all men are created equal" to mean that every person living in America is equal!