Before they tear down America's founders' statues …

It seems our society has gone toppling tipsy in wanting to tear down every statue that causes anyone offense. From a Texas Ranger in a Dallas airport to Christopher Columbus in multiple cities, dethroning statues is en vogue. Eyes are in fact fixated on toppling 1,700 across the U.S.

If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has her way, 11 statues of soldiers and statesmen of the Confederacy will face their last stand in the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where this is going: America's founders' statues are next. Before they are toppled, I want to educate Americans on the real truths of those who secured our freedoms in the founding of our republic, which are not taught in the public classrooms of liberal academia.

First, if you didn't read my last column, I want to encourage you to do so as I gave a solution to America's divisions that is far more powerful than protests or even law and order, because it works from inside of us. It's about reappraising the value of all human beings and returning to the reasons America's founders established our republic.

I need to reiterate one thing I said in my last column in order to launch into what I need to say here: The value of human life has not always fluctuated from person to person like it does today. Most early Americans believed humans were the highest creation of God.

Back then, there were two codes that shaped and reflected most people's view of humanity: that God created all of us, and that we were created equal. Their views were based in the Bible and expressed in the Declaration of Independence: "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."

Those words were derived from the declaration in the Good Book: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; … And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:26-28)

Dr. Thomas G. West, professor of politics and author of "Vindicating Our Founders," explained that, "The Founders believed that all men are created equal and that they have certain inalienable rights. All are also obliged to obey the natural law, under which we have not only rights but duties. We are obliged 'to respect those rights in others which we value in ourselves' (Thomas Jefferson)."

Of course, many today say and teach that our founders were hypocrites. Many believe they didn't mean what they said when they affirmed the belief that we all were "created equal," because of the fact that many owned slaves, mistreated women, condoned the slaughtering of Indians, etc. Others say America's founders wrote what they meant, and were initiating change in the midst of cultural and economic prejudices.

I don't have enough room to address every objection, nor do I feel a necessity to defend every action of our founders or their humanity. They didn't treat others perfectly. In many ways they failed to meet their own expectations. But, as George Washington wrote, "We must take human nature as we find it. Perfection falls not to the share of mortals."

John Jay, the first U.S. justice appointed to the Supreme Court by Washington himself, said about prejudice: "It is a pity that such feelings should exist; but they are the offspring of human nature, which is not what it should be, nor what it once was."

Despite their shortcomings, our founders believed there was something inherent in humanity that called it to a higher purpose. Doing wrong didn't take away from the fact that they could do better. The presence of prejudice didn't negate their desire for equality.

The Declaration of Independence was not a guarantee that everyone would always be treated as equals. Equal rights are one thing – equal treatment is another. It took decades and even centuries before culture would conform to their ideals. Even today, we still seek to practice what they preached.

The Declaration of Independence set the course upon which America sails. Though culture would have to catch up to its creeds, inherent within that founding document was the equality for slaves, women, poor, Indians and even the unborn. Our founders had a dream that one day all people would be treated as equals.

As John Adams wrote to Patrick Henry: "The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what names you please, sigh and groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth must be established in America."

What matters here is the fact that the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence and believed in its contents for the founding and future of America. That document announced to the whole world that America was established upon the biblical belief that "all men are created equal."

So valued was the entire human race that George Washington wrote to John Jay in 1786, "We have, probably, had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation."

Our founders led the way, warts and all. They even confronted their own biases. For example, while slavery was considered a cultural norm, most founders wrestled with it as a trespass against the Almighty and humanity.

Again, George Washington wrote: "There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it."

(Washington also demonstrated the value of women, when he wrote to Annie Boudinot Stockton in 1788: "Nor would I rob the fairer sex of their share in the glory of a revolution so honorable to human nature, for, indeed, I think you ladies are in the number of the best patriots America can boast.")

John Adams wrote: "Every measure of prudence, therefore, ought to be assumed for the eventual total extirpation of slavery from the United States. … I have, through my whole life, held the practice of slavery in … abhorrence."

Benjamin Franklin stated, "Slavery is … an atrocious debasement of human nature."

Alexander Hamilton added: "The laws of certain states … give an ownership in the service of Negroes as personal property. … But being men, by the laws of God and nature, they were capable of acquiring liberty – and when the captor in war … thought fit to give them liberty, the gift was not only valid, but irrevocable."

James Madison explained: "We have seen the mere distinction of color made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man."

Were any of my readers taught in public schools any of the anti-slavery views of the founders I just quoted?

Thomas Jefferson spoke about the goal yet difficulty of abolishing slavery even as late as 1820: "But, as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."

That is why our second president, John Adams, spoke for others when he said: "We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions … shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for honors and power … we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society."

The founders believed that their declaration of equality would eventually give legs to everyone's freedom. Their struggle for equality made a difference. Their Great Experiment worked. In just one century America would taste the fruit of respect for all religious beliefs, women's suffrage and the abolition of slavery.

More than merely a foundation for secession, the Declaration of Independence served also as a basis for human worth and equality, and should be reflected in how we treat all other people, from presidents to paupers, from every race, creed and economic status, including – or maybe, especially --- those with whom we disagree.

Unborn babies are even protected by the Declaration's tenets. No surprise that Jefferson explained preserving human value and life was government's primary role: "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

Today, for most Americans, the Declaration of Independence is a historical document encased under bulletproof glass in Washington, D.C. It's something we tour to see, like all the relics of the past. It reminds us of valiant time when men fought to gain our independence from Britain.

But it's so much more than that to those of us who understand it's meaning and know it's power. It's still the answer and creed to fight for equality and maintain civility by reminding us of one another's value as human beings and American citizens. What a perfect document and words to ponder right now as Americans wrestle to understand equality, and especially as we draw closer to Independence Day in a few weeks.

What America's founders knew was that they could and should begin the process of freedom, but that it would be left for future generations – us – to continue to fight for it. For those reasons alone, their models and statues should remain standing tall as beacons of light for all to see the direction we should go. They are the champions and heroes of our equality.

(For further reading on this subject, I recommend Dr. Thomas West's amazing work, "Vindicating Our Founders." I also recommend reading one of my favorite chapters, "Reclaiming the Value of Human Life," in my New York Times bestseller, "Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America." Please also sign up for the email news alerts at WND, consult the vast resources about America's founders at WallBuilders.com and listen to WallBuilders Live broadcasts!)