Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol Quotes
All men are born free. Some are certainly endowed with grater intelligence, stronger will or a greater portion of wealth than others, but that gives them—the cleverer, the stronger, the richer—not the least right to rule over the duller, the weaker, the poorer. God, the Father of us all, has made mankind, without exception, to be happy, and so the obligation is laid on us, as far as is possible, to make each other happy.
This quotation many think is the greatest statement of political equality ever written. Interestingly is also lays an obligation on all people for all others. It was written by a privileged nobleman, a Baron, who was instrumental philosophically and politically in establishing the Batavia Republic in Holland.
Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, 1741-1784,, Dutch Nobleman & Republican Revolutionary Patriot, Political Writer, To the People of the Netherlands, 1781
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He had written this at the request of Joan van der Capellen, the Dutch revolutionist, to have a Christian theological justification for revolution against the then Dutch monarchy. See {639741} and {639742}.
As hard as it is for us to imagine today, while her husband was President of the United States, the First Lady wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column every single day with politics frequently the subject. While she usually agreed with the President, there were occasions where they seemed to not see things exactly the same. She tended to be more liberal than he. However, there were those who believed that when she criticized politicians, it was with FDR’s knowledge and blessing and she sometimes did his “dirty work.” Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most influential people in the country—certainly more-so than any First Lady before and since.
This wording was used a few years later by the French in their Revolution,
The opening line of the North Vietnamese Declaration of Independence was a quotation of Thomas Jefferson’s in the American Declaration of Independence. What is even more interesting is that Ho Chi Minh who wrote it asked for and received help in checking his translation from an American agent of the OSS---Office of Strategic Service, precursor to the CIA. While Ho adopted much from the American Democratic concepts, he did not include free elections of multiple party candidates, freedom of speech, travel, or many other basics.
He was responding to Mississippi Congressman William Colmer-- {637395}. Southern racists frequently accused other members of Congress of being intimidated by civil rights leaders rather than voting for civil rights legislation out of conviction. Many of them, like Colmer, were so insular that revanchist that they did not realize that other whites could really believe that segregation was not a necessary and good thing.
- Born: November 2, 1741
- Died: June 6, 1784
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Joan Derk, Baron van der Capellen tot den Pol was a Dutch nobleman who played a prominent role in the revolutionary events that preceded the formation of the Batavian Republic. As a member of the Patriots and inspired by the American Revolution, he wrote the noted pamphlet Aan het Volk van Nederland ("To the People of the Netherlands"), pleading for a more liberal society and the end of the Stadtholder regime, which had been marked by corruption and nepotism. He was also an ardent supporter of the legal recognition of the recently created United States of America.
