Equality in Language
The Enduring Power of “All Men Are Created Equal”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
— The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Few phrases in human history have carried as much weight—or as much contradiction—as these seven words. At the time they were written, “all men” did not include women, enslaved Africans, Indigenous peoples, or even all white men. And yet, this single sentence has since become a rallying cry for human dignity, civil rights, and universal justice.
How did a flawed statement, born of its time, become a timeless ideal?
The Philosophical Origins of Equality
The idea that all humans share an essential moral status goes back to the Stoics, who believed in a common rational nature among all people. Later, Christian theology emphasized the equal worth of all souls before God. But it was the Enlightenment, especially philosophers like John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, that secularized and universalized this idea.
Locke’s belief in natural rights implied equality before the law. Kant added the moral dimension: human beings must be treated as ends in themselves, never merely as means to an end.
When Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal,” he was distilling centuries of moral and political evolution into one sentence—whether or not he fully lived by its meaning.
Language That Transcends Its Authors
Though penned by a man who owned slaves and endorsed limited suffrage, the phrase has outgrown its authors. Words, once released into the world, can be claimed by others. And this one was.
• Frederick Douglass seized upon it to argue against slavery.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton echoed it in the fight for women’s suffrage.
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called it a “promissory note” yet to be fulfilled.
• Abraham Lincoln declared it the “proposition” on which America was founded.
The genius of this phrase lies not in its initial sincerity, but in its capacity for reinterpretation. Its beauty is aspirational—an idea not yet achieved, but worthy of pursuit.
Equality as a Moral Compass
“All men are created equal” is more than a political statement. It is a moral compass. It reminds us that:
• No person is born to rule another by nature.
• No government can justify discrimination in law or practice.
• No society can call itself just unless it strives toward equal dignity for all.
Equality does not mean sameness. It means equal moral worth, equal opportunity under the law, and equal protection of rights.
Even when reality falls short, the ideal points forward—guiding reformers, courts, teachers, and citizens toward a more just society.
The Work Continues
The Declaration’s vision of equality remains unfinished. In every age, new generations must ask:
• Who is still excluded from the promise?
• What structures still deny equal voice, equal treatment, or equal access?
The phrase “all men are created equal” is not a conclusion. It is an invitation—to build a society where dignity is not inherited, purchased, or granted by power, but recognized in every human face.
Conclusion
“All men are created equal” began as a radical claim by imperfect men in an imperfect time. But its words have lived on, reinterpreted, reasserted, and reclaimed by every movement that seeks liberty and justice.
This is the ultimate power of the Declaration:
It gave us not just a founding document—but a moral horizon.
And it is toward that horizon that the cause of freedom still marches.