July Fourth, a Nation of Hypocrites

The July 4, 1835, Liberator, pg 3,  includes some of these words. “So — this is the boasted anniversary of American Independence!  Was there ever such a nation of hypocrites and liars, as we have shown ourselves to be since the year 1776?  For the fifty-ninth time we meet today to rend the heavens with the roar of cannon and with universal shouting; for, as did our fathers, so do ‘we hold these truths to be SELF-EVIDENT — that all men are created EQUAL; that they are ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR  with certain INALIENABLE RIGHTS; that among these are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness’.  By the words ‘all men’, we of course mean ourselves, …. Nay, is it not self-evident, that we, have a right (and do we not exercise it?) to take away the liberty of the press and of speech  — to enslave millions in our midst, because they have sable skin which they ought not to have…”