Equality__Debate_That_All_Men_Are_Equal

Equality: Debate That All Men Are Equal 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 men, americans, african, jefferson, declaration, white, christy, douglass, people, states, should, rights, notes, just, july, independence, frederick, fourth, equal, because, writes, virginia, never, makes, known, inferior, everyone, david, both, about, term, slave, same, real, meaning