House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stumbled during recent remarks over a reference to the Founding Fathers’ principles: Was it the Constitution? Or was it the Declaration of Independence?
Mrs. Pelosi’s gaffe came while speaking at a Sept. 18 event held by Center for American Progress: “And so, it was 165 years ago — 165 years ago. Imagine the courage it took for those women to go to Seneca Falls and do what they did there, to even leave home without their husband’s permission, or father’s or whoever it was, to go to Seneca Falls, and to paraphrase what our founders said in the Constitution of the United States: they said the truths that are self-evident, that every man and woman — that men and women were created equal and that we must go forward in recognition of that.”
Unfortunately for the California Democrat, it’s the Declaration of Independence — not the Constitution — that contains that phrase, which is the basic principle of American society that gives rise to claims of exceptionalism.
Thomas Jefferson wrote: “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.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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