The Declaration of Independence has some fine words. Noble speech about the equality of all men.

How did Thomas Jefferson square this away with the hundreds of slaves that he owned? Also, what really was motivating these breakaway colonists? I have seen a suggestion that they objected to the British 1763 ruling that the land beyond the Apallachians belonged to the native Indian peoples. The result of the rebellion and split was of course that the colonists became rich on the wealth of the lands and peoples that were subsequently pillaged out west.

This is not to suggest that there wasn’t a wonderful ideal expressed on this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia. Yet it is the lot of humanity to combine greatness with venality and hypocrisy. I wonder, though, if the descendants of the indigenous peoples celebrate this day as enthusiastically as the WASPS?