Equality In The Declaration Of Independence

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July 4, 1776, marks the day the thirteen American colonies broke free from British tyranny and established their own free and independent government – the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence states, "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." However, in 1776, the high ideals of liberty and equality presented in the Declaration of Independence greatly contradicted reality. If “all men are created equal,” then why slavery was allowed? Despite of the words “all men,” the authors of the Declaration did not actually consider all people to be worthy of the listed rights. “All men” only applied to white, land-owning males. Women, slaves, and Native Americans were completely and unfairly ignored by the Declaration of Independence. Although Thomas Jefferson devoted a whole passage to denouncing slavery in his rough draft of the Declaration, it was omitted in the final version after a series of revisions and intense debates among the delegates. Slavery was crucial to the Southern economy and the delegates had a good understanding of it. Making slavery impossible in the United States would have threatened the integrity of the nation.…show more content…
He owned hundreds of slaves throughout his life, however, he treated them with justice. The hypocritical nature of Thomas Jefferson mirrors the attitude of the colonists during the Revolutionary War period, while many saw that slavery violated the human rights that they were fighting for, they could not continue to be economically successful without slavery and chose to omit a passage in the Declaration that challenged it [1]. In 1865, slavery was abolished and, in 1870, former male slaves gained the right to vote; women did not get the chance to vote until
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