Obama Restores the ‘Creator’ to His Recitation of the Declaration of Independence

President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(CNSNews.com) – On the campaign trail for Democrats in recent days, President Barack Obama said the word “Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence, although he omitted the word in several earlier speeches this year. The addition of "Creator" came after press reports noted the omission in Obama's earlier speeches.

The Declaration of Independence says, “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.”

In four speeches on Friday, Saturday and Monday, Obama cited the word “Creator.” CNSNews.com, Fox News and other media outlets had reported on Obama's numerous omissions, including two last week.

In addressing a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee event Monday in Providence, R.I., Obama said the "idea of America" was based "on a document and ideas that had never been tried before."

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Obama said.

Obama told an audience at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on Saturday, “This country was founded on a tough, difficult idea -- 13 colonies deciding to break off from the most powerful empire on Earth, and then drafting a document -- a Declaration of Independence that embodied ideas that had never been tried before.”

“‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’” Obama said, quoting the declaration. “That’s not an easy idea. And it had to be fought for, inch by inch, year by year.”

On at least five occasions in the past, the president has misquoted the Declaration of Independence, according to transcripts of speeches from White House.gov and the news database Nexis.

On at least one other occasion, Obama paraphrased the Declaration, omitting the word Creator.

In a speech at a rally at Orr Middle School Park in Las Vegas on Friday, Obama said: “This country was founded when 13 colonies came together in a revolution that nobody believed could happen, except they believed. They founded this country on ideas that hadn’t been tried before: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal -- that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Earlier that day at a rally at the University of Southern California-Los Angeles, the president made similar comments.

He said: “And then, they decided, you know, we’re going to try to form a new type of government and they wrote on paper, they said in their declaration, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal -- that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’”

For example, at an Oct. 21 rally in Seattle for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Obama said: “Thirteen colonies deciding to start a revolution based on an idea that had never been tried before -- a government of and by and for the people. A government based on the simple proposition that all men are created equal. That we’re endowed with certain inalienable rights.”

At a fundraiser dinner on Oct. 18 in Rockville, Md., for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Obama said: “It has to do with this idea that was started by 13 colonies that decided to throw off the yoke of an empire, and said, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that each of us are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’”

In both the Seattle and Rockville appearances, he omitted the word “Creator.”

Also, at an Oct. 17 reception for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Obama said: “The notion of 13 colonies coming together and overthrowing the greatest empire in the world, and then drafting a document that says, we find these truths to be self-evident, that all mean are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights -- that’s hard.”

Once again, Obama omitted the word “Creator.”

That same day at a Democratic National Committee event in Columbus, Obama said: “When you thought about those 13 colonies coming together, how unlikely was it that they could gain their freedom from the most powerful empire on Earth, and then draft a document based on principles that had never been tried before: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that we are endowed with certain inalienable rights.”

At a Sept. 22 joint Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee event at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, Obama paraphrased the declaration.

“And what was sustaining us was that sense that -- that North Star, that sense that, you know what, if we stay true to our values, if we believe that all people are created equal and everybody is endowed with certain inalienable rights and we’re going to make those words live,” Obama said, “and we’re going to give everybody opportunity, everybody a ladder into the middle class, every child able to go as far as their dreams will take them -- if we stay true to that, then we’re going to be able to maintain the energy and the focus, the fight, the gumption to get stuff done.”

It was on Sept. 15, during his remarks to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 33^rd Annual Awards Gala, that Obama first sparked attention for omitting “Creator” when quoting the declaration.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed,” the president paused momentarily, “with certain inalienable rights: life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Last week, radio reporter Lester Kinsolving asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs why Obama had previously left the term Creator out of his remarks when citing the Declaration. Gibbs said, “I haven’t seen the comments, Lester. But I can assure you the president believes in the Declaration of Independence.”

Obama on several previous occasions did include the term “Creator” when citing the declaration.

In his July 4, 2010 address, Obama said, “Two hundred and thirty-four years later, the words are just as bold, just as revolutionary, as they were when they were first pronounced: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’”

On May 22, 2010, Obama spoke to the graduating class at West Point, N.Y., where he said, “But this nation was founded upon a different notion. We believe, ‘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.’”