This is in response to Robert Limoges’ letter (July 15), “Non-maskers a threat to life, liberty.”
His statement “In the Bill of Rights, the very first ‘right’ is ‘life’ followed by ‘liberty and the pursuit of happiness'” was incorrect.
The statement to which Limoges referred comes from the Declaration of Independence — a document sent by the British colonies to King George III before the American Revolution, declaring America’s independence. It states: “… 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 …”
Through the past seven months, many people have misused, misquoted and misled others with those two documents, making false claims about things that are in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and stating, falsely, that the Declaration of Independence is part of the Constitution.
Social media is the worse transgressor.
Before believing anyone that something is in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, people should read the documents. They are both fairly short.
The Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) are outstanding documents for every American to read and understand.
Crystal Ward, Lewiston
Editor’s note: We regret the error was not caught during editing. The digital version of Limoges’ letter has been edited to reflect the correct document reference.
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