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Declaration Of Independence: Were All Men Are Created Equal?

513 Words3 Pages

Everyone at one point of time throughout their childhood has learned about the Declaration of Independence. While we all understand the significance of it back on July 4, 1776, there are several parts of the context that can be debatable in the 21st century. One of the most controversial parts within the declaration was the statement “all men are created equal”. Were all men created equal back then? Or was it the ignorance individuals had back then that made them assume all men were created equal? First, when you ask someone what they meant by the word men, they spoke in regards to both genders. If that is the case then back in 1776, women should have had rights, yet they did not. Women were unable to vote, or freely speak as we do today. It …show more content…

Back in 1776 slavery was still legalized. It was not until December 18, 1865 that slavery ended in the United States (Huffington). Even after slavery ended, it only gave the men more of a chance to be equal to a white man by owning land and having other small rights given to them. African American women did not receive those same rights until 1920. Native American’s were also not considered when creating the Declaration of Independence. They were not given any rights until the Indian Civil Rights Act was passed in 1968. It was less than 100 years after the Declaration of Independence was created that they allowed the federal Indian Removal Act in 1830 that killed hundreds of thousands of Native Americans. Even California in 1850 legalized slavery in the reference of buying and selling Native American children (United). As you can see, there was no such thing as “all men are created equally” unless you were a white man in 1776. Even then they could be disrespectful towards one another based on their occupation or income. In the old times white men could be classified as ignorant and prejudice towards everyone. As much as we would like to say it has improved since then, there has only been miniscule

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