All men are created equal
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The quotation "All men are created equal" (sometimes modified to "All people are created equal") is arguably the best-known phrase in any of America's political documents, as the idea it expresses is generally considered the foundation of American democracy. It appears in the opening of the American Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, as follows:
- "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."
These statements illustrate the idea of natural rights, a philosophical concept of the Enlightment; many of the ideas in the Declaration were borrowed from the English liberal political philosopher John Locke. Locke, however, referred to "life, liberty and estate" rather than the pursuit of happiness.
The phrase has since been considered a hallmark statement in democratic constitutions and similar human rights instruments, many of which have adopted the phrase or variants thereof.
[edit] Applications in American history
Declaring the equality of all men did not, however, prevent the United States from continuing the widespread practice of slavery. However, President Abraham Lincoln relied on the Declaration of Independence when making the case that slavery went against the deepest commitments of the American nation. Though he did so throughout the 1850s and into his presidency, the most famous example can be found in the Gettysburg Address:
- "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal"
The phrase was also quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his famous I Have a Dream speech, as the "creed" of the United States:
- "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.' "
[edit] See also
- Second-class citizen
- John Ball (1381), "When Adam dug and Eve span, who was then the nobleman?"
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), article 1: "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common utility."
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), article 1: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights..."
