Equality: Debate That All Men Are Equal

6 Pages 1558 Words

Equality: Debate That All Men Are Equal
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson states that all men are created equal. In today’s day and age, the term, “all men,” would refer to men and women regardless of age, race, or creed. In Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia, he makes many negative sweeping statements about African Americans and invokes his notion that they are inferior to whites. Since Jefferson lived in the time of slavery, the term, “all men,” only referred to white puritan males. Despite Jefferson’s opinion on the meaning, other’s seemed to have different opinions. For instance, Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave, gave a speech in Massachusetts called What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July, felt that the term should represent the meaning that it has today, that it should include African American men, and women of all colors. David Christy, a Cincinnati, Ohio journalist was torn on the meaning of the term, “all men.” He felt that a gradual emancipation and deportation of African Americans was the right thing to do, but also realized that plan could have a very negative effect on the global economy, as he writes in Cotton Is King. Thomas Jefferson contradicts himself in writing the Declaration of Independence and Notes on Virginia because he says that all men are created equal in one, and then degrades African Americans in the next; however, Frederick Douglass feels that white puritan men are no better than the British because they both succeeded in suppressing a group of people; moreover, David Christy supports the notion of emancipation, but is hesitant in fear of a collapsing global economy.
In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson creates the idea that everyone is entitled to, among other things, equality. He makes it known that he feels that these certain rights and entitlements are obviously given to them by God, feeling that anyone who is alive should realize them. Jefferso...