2026年6月28日 / 美国东部时间上午9:15 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
没错，他们并非完人；许多签署《独立宣言》的人——甚至包括该宣言的作者本人——都是奴隶主。但同样毋庸置疑的是：他们在1776年夏天的举动改变了世界。
“很多时候人们只会说‘算了吧，就因为托马斯·杰斐逊的虚伪，我们干脆把《独立宣言》一笔勾销’，”哈佛大学教授丹妮尔·艾伦说道，她是全球顶尖的《独立宣言》研究专家之一。“我们不能这么做，也不应该这么做。这是我们的遗产。”
当被问及纪念美国建国250周年的最佳方式时，艾伦回答：“花时间大声朗读《独立宣言》。全文仅1337个单词，却是关于何为良政、人民应得何种权利、我们作为人类究竟为何的最重要哲学论述之一。”
到1776年夏天，美国独立战争已全面打响。来自13个殖民地的代表在费城集会，授权起草《独立宣言》。起草委员会成员包括自学成才的印刷商、发明家本杰明·富兰克林，以及马萨诸塞州律师约翰·亚当斯。但最终由新人、33岁的托马斯·杰斐逊敲定了初稿，其中便包含“人人生而平等”这句名言。
但他真的意指所有人吗？艾伦给出了肯定答案，只要看看最终定稿中被删掉的内容就知道：“他们曾加入一段谴责乔治三世参与奴隶贸易的段落，将其描述为对非洲远方人民神圣生命权和自由权的侵犯。换句话说，他们将同样的神圣权利理念，同时赋予了非洲人和他们自己。”
但这段内容最终被删除了。“1776年那个时期，就和后来制定宪法时一样，他们不得不妥协，”艾伦说。“而其中一个存在争议的问题就是奴隶制。”
共有56人签署了《独立宣言》——如果革命失败，这无异于一纸死刑判决书。
佛罗里达大学教授艾伦·格尔佐表示，从群体层面看，国父们是有史以来同一时代同一地域涌现出的最具天赋的领袖群体。当被问及他们为后世留下了什么馈赠时，格尔佐说：“他们让我们认识到某些基本事实：人性之中，生来便有对生命、自由和追求幸福的渴望与向往。这些权利与生俱来，政府的目的应当是保护它们，而非统治人民。这在人类思想史上是一份极其厚重的礼物。”
当被问及谁有资格被称为“国父”时，格尔佐说：“我不确定自己是否曾特意坐下来列出一份官方名单。”“有些人你可以明确指出，他们确实不可或缺，比如华盛顿。如果没有乔治·华盛顿，我真不认为革命能取得成功。他至关重要。”
而国父群体也并非仅限男性。“我想几乎所有人都会把阿比盖尔·亚当斯这样的人算在内，”格尔佐说，“她是约翰·亚当斯的妻子，时常向丈夫提出建议，而且坚信自己的意见会被采纳。”
他还将非裔美国人纳入国父群体。“其中包括那些士兵，也就是罗德岛军团的普通官兵，他们曾在费城街头列队行进，前往约克镇战场。”
格尔佐在建国200周年之际曾在费城担任学生导游。从那时起，他见证了人们对国家建国历史和国父们的纪念方式发生了巨大变化。“我认为部分原因在于，我们经历过且仍身处一些极其艰难且充满争议的时期，”他说，“我们尚未走出这些争议的旋涡。”
丹妮尔·艾伦表示，今年是建国250周年，我们应当为美国（当然也包括它的国父们）庆祝，不是因为它完美无缺，而是因为它承载着希望。“我为我们的国家感到自豪，”她说，“这个国家向全世界提出了一个前所未有的理念：人民可以在国家层面实现自治。这种理念此前从未存在过……这意义非凡，我们理应为此感到自豪。重申一下，感到自豪并不意味着你不能正视国家的缺陷。但我们应当为人类创造出的可能性感到自豪——自由的诞生，以及我们之间对平等的追求。”
更多信息：
- 丹妮尔·艾伦，哈佛大学肯尼迪学院民主改革艾伦实验室主任
- 丹妮尔·S·艾伦所著《我们的宣言：解读〈独立宣言〉以捍卫平等》（利弗莱特出版社），现已推出平装本、电子书和有声书，可在亚马逊、巴诺书店和Bookshop.org购买
- 艾伦·C·格尔佐，佛罗里达大学人文学科教授
- 有声书：《伟大课程：美国国父们》，艾伦·C·格尔佐主讲（“伟大课程”系列）
- 感谢费城卡彭特大厅
本报道由马克·哈德普思制作。编辑：乔治·波兹德雷克。
The Founding Fathers: Why their radical beliefs continue to shape America
June 28, 2026 / 9:15 AM EDT / CBS News
Yes, they were flawed; many of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence – indeed the man who wrote it – were themselves slaveholders. Yes, also: what they did in the summer of 1776 changed the world.
“Lots of times people just want to say, ‘Nah, we’ll just write off the Declaration of Independence because of Thomas Jefferson’s hypocrisy,’” said Harvard professor Danielle Allen, one of the world’s foremost experts on the Declaration of Independence. “We can’t write it off. We shouldn’t write it off. It is our inheritance.”
Asked the best way to honor America’s 250th birthday, Allen replied, “Take the time to read the Declaration of Independence out loud. It’s only 1,337 words, yet it’s one of the most important philosophical statements about what a good government is, what the people deserve, what we are as human beings.”
By the summer of 1776, the Revolutionary War was in full swing. Delegates from the 13 colonies, meeting in Philadelphia, authorized the drafting of a Declaration of Independence. The drafting committee included Benjamin Franklin, a self-made printer and inventor, and Massachusetts lawyer John Adams. But it was the new kid, 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson, who hammered out the first draft, including the phrase, “All men are created equal.”
The proposed Declaration of Independence being presented to the Continental Congress in 1776. CBS News
But did he really mean everyone? Allen says yes, considering what didn’t make the final draft: “They included a paragraph critiquing George III for the slave trade. And they described that as a violation of the sacred rights of life and liberty of a distant people in Africa. In other words, they apply the same concept of sacred rights to Africans as they did to themselves.”
But the passage had to be removed. “In the period of 1776, just as later with the Constitution, they needed to compromise,” said Allen. “And one contested issue was already slavery.”
Fifty-six men signed the Declaration – a death sentence if the revolution were unsuccessful.
As a group, says University of Florida professor Allen Guelzo, the Founders represent the most gifted group of leaders who ever lived in one generation in one place. Asked what they bestowed upon us, Guelzo said, “They gave us a recognition of certain basic facts, that within human nature, there is an instinctive yearning and desire for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those things are there in nature, and the purpose of government is to foster them; the purpose of government is not to rule over the people. That is an enormous gift in the history of human ideas.”
Guelzo was asked who makes the grade as a “Founding Father.” “I don’t know that I’ve ever consciously sat down and made up an official list,” he said. “There are some people whom you can point to and say, all right, they are really indispensable, somebody like Washington. Take George Washington off the table and I don’t really think you have a successful revolution. He’s vital.”
And the Founders were not limited to men. “I think almost everybody includes someone like Abigail Adams,” said Guelzo, “because she was the wife of John Adams, and she was constantly peppering him with advice. And she expected it to be taken.”
He also includes Black Americans among the Founders. “They include the soldiers, the rank and file of the Rhode Island Regiment that paraded here through the streets of Philadelphia en route to Yorktown.”
Guelzo was a student tour guide in Philadelphia during the Bicentennial. Since that time, he’s seen a stark change in how the nation’s founding, and the Founders themselves, are remembered. “I think part of it is because we have come through, and are still involved in, some very difficult and contentious times,” he said. “We’re not on the other side of these contentions yet.”
Danielle Allen says this year, our 250th, we should celebrate America (and yes, its Founding Fathers) not for its perfection, but for its promise. “I am proud of our country,” she said. “This country put on the world stage this proposition that people can govern themselves at the scale of a nation. Didn’t exist, that idea … it’s a huge deal, and we should be proud of that. Again, pride doesn’t mean you can’t be clear-eyed about shortcomings. But we should be proud of what we’ve made possible for human beings – the birth of freedom, the pursuit of equality among us.”
For more info:
- Danielle Allen, director, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University
- “Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality” by Danielle S. Allen (Liveright), in Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- Allen C. Guelzo, professor of humanities, University of Florida
- Audio:”The Great Courses: America’s Founding Fathers” by Allen C. Guelzo (The Great Courses)
- Thanks to Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia
Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: George Pozderec.
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