WHEN I was in school, they were giants - great men, gallant men - heroes who were willing to sacrifice their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor so that their beloved country could be freed from the chains of old Europe.

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman formed the committee that crafted the Declaration of Independence; Jefferson wrote the main draft.

Livingston would be recalled by his state before he could sign it. Sherman was the only man to sign the Big Four of his day: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution.

Two of the five became presidents. Two wound up as the face of American currency. All five men and the entire Continental Congress laid the foundation of the Last Great Hope for the planet.

Standing taller than everyone was Gen. George Washington.

He didn't golf at Valley Forge. He stayed with his men, ever the winter soldier. He was the nation's first and greatest commander in chief.

That was how we viewed our Founding Fathers when I was growing up.

Today's educators have downgraded them to Founders, a non-sexist bone thrown to feminists.

That is not just politically correct but dishonest.

The ideals of this nation were set by a bunch of dead white males. As a future dead white male, I can see why there would be objections from those who aren't future dead white males.

Sure, the Founding Fathers were not saints. They were also hypocrites and scalawags.

The fellow who wrote "all men are created equal" not only owned slaves but may have sired children who were then slaves - and whose progeny were second-class citizens for another 100 years after slavery ended.

We should be honest about that.

We should also be up front about those who fought for freedom knowing they would never taste it.

Crispus Attucks was one of the five Patriots that the British killed in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. He was biracial - actually multi-racial - having white, Negro and Wampanoag ancestors.

Abolitionists rescued Attucks from obscurity in the antebellum period. I am sure he would not have protested the resurrection for such a cause. About 40 years ago, he was brought out for another bow.

Again, it was for a good cause.

The Daughters of the American Revolution, hardly known as a feminist group, recently dusted off Margaret Corbin - Captain Molly - who fought beside her husband and took over the cannon when he was shot and killed at the Battle of Fort Washington.

The British captured her and then released her. She was given garrison duties at West Point and eventually a disability pension and an honorable discharge.

Her story, too, deserves prominence.

But their service and sacrifices were not the main story. And I sometimes fear we are overlooking the main picture.

The Founding Fathers were mainly White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, although men who were not WASPs - Francis Marion and Charles Carroll of Carrollton -- played intricate roles in the American Revolution.

I view Jefferson and company as men who set the bar so high that they could not achieve it, knowing - or at least hoping - that future generations would.

Making "all men are created" a reality is the story so far of our nation.

Our Founding Fathers laid the foundation for this nation. But the end of slavery would take Union soldiers - 360,000 of whom died, including their commander in chief.

Suffrage to women would take another 55 years, and full rights for African-Americans would not come until this nation was 188 years old with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The key to American exceptionalism is the expansion of rights to all races, all religions, all creeds and sexes - the result of holding itself to its stated creed.

America could have broken from Britain without the Declaration of Independence. But then our nation would have been doomed to mediocrity.

The Founding Fathers wanted better for their new land. They wanted a fresh start for humanity. And that is what our nation became.

On Sunday, we celebrate the 234th anniversary of this declaration - this gift - from those dead white males. May their work - and their memory - last forever.

Surber may be reached at donsur...@dailymail.com. His blog is at http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber.