All Men Are Created Equal

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson put quill to parchment and wrote the following phrase for the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. This was revolutionary for his time. The idea that all men are created equal ran counter to historical precedent up to that point. It was a brave defiance of a monarchy that had always assumed it had a God-given right to a life of power and privilege. Most Europeans took it for granted that all men needed a king to remain in the good graces of God. Jefferson and his fellow revolutionaries dared to think differently. Jefferson didn’t write these words to antagonize the king; he wrote them from the heart. He truly believed the words to be righteous. It was a moral claim. An aspiration. A challenge. A bold assertion.

In today’s terms, Jefferson would have been considered a bleeding-heart liberal. An anti-establishment progressive. An antagonizer. A troublemaker.

But also by today’s terms, Jefferson fell far short of true equality. His words didn’t apply to women, enslaved people, Indigenous tribes, or even poor white men who didn’t own land.

Even so, his brave “bleeding-heart liberal” words survived the contradictions of his time. It grew over the generations and became the foundation for something much larger than the revolutionists ever lived to see.

Why? Because the idea was more powerful than the practice.

Generation after generation, Americans have returned to that simple statement—not to tear it down, but to expand its promise. Abolitionists, suffragists, civil rights leaders, and everyday people have held up Jefferson’s words and asked, “Don’t we matter, too?” That question continues to echo today.

So, are we there yet? Have we arrived at a boundless society that delivers on the promise of equality?

Unfortunately, no. Still, it’s clear that 250 years after Jefferson wrote those words, our modern practice of equality has gone far beyond what he envisioned. It may have even exceeded his original intent. But we’re not there yet.

A modern interpretation of Jefferson’s words might look like this: Equality doesn’t mean we’re all the same. It means we’re all deserving of the same dignity. It means that no one is born better than another. It means that the accident of birth—your skin color, your gender, your zip code—should neither determine your worth nor limit your potential.

That’s the seed Jefferson planted. And though the weather doesn’t always cooperate, it continues to grow.