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 – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
We hold great admiration for Thomas Jefferson. His wisdom and eloquence have seldom been matched in human history. When the members of the Continental Congress, formed to address their grievances with Great Britain and King George III, decided to declare independence for their colonies, they turned to the multilinguistic Thomas Jefferson to write the document which would express their wishes, their feelings, and document the reasons for their actions. They asked him to produce the document that would state their case and serve as a rallying call for all who were no longer willing to tolerate the suppressive treatment they had received from King George III. They asked him to present it in a way that would be acceptable to all of them, a cause to which they could pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. He not only did that, but he produced one of the most outstanding pieces of literature in human history.
And then there is this phrase, which rings down through the centuries: “all men are created equal.” It excites us just to think of the basic truth of that statement. It is the basis for all good government, in the sense that none of us is born into more right or advantage than anyone else. There is no race, no size, no color, no inherited wealth that makes any one of us more valuable than any other person. We are all created equal. We think of this statement as one of the bedrock principles on which this country is founded, and one of the guiding principles on which all of our laws should be based. The forms of Democracy that have been instituted, have been established to provide equal opportunity for all. Slavery has been abolished because of adherence to this belief. Civil liberties and rights of due process have been established because of this belief. The single proud pillar of democracy, which is tolerance for all people of all beliefs and faiths, is settled on this foundation of equality.
Yet Jefferson himself did not fully believe in this ringing banner of equality, and did not practice it in his life. We sometimes do not pay attention to the most obvious facts: women were excluded from this equality. Women did not hold office, and women did not have the right to vote. Although historians state that he had a happy marriage and was devoted to his wife, Martha, Jefferson found the time to have sex as often as possible with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Both of these women bore six children from their union with Jefferson. That was the only way they were equal. This ringing banner of equality applied to men only, and did not apply to slaves.
Although Jefferson publicly stated his opposition to slavery, he was himself a slaveholder, and made no move to free his slaves. He failed to appreciate the great influence of social condition on human development, and considered blacks to be inferior humans. “I advance it, therefore, as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.” In addition to seeing women and slaves as inferior human beings, Jefferson believed that governance should be in the hands of the aristocratic members of society, those with higher education and the means to devote time to the legalities of this new government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
We do not mean to be unkind to Thomas Jefferson. He was a great man. We are, however, simply being honest to point out that he had his flaws and illogic, as we all do. What he said is not what he believed. There is a reason for that dichotomy. The greatest flaw of this purported bedrock of democracy is, that it is absolutely false. We are not created equal. In fact, the exact opposite is true. We are not only all created unequal, but we are all created differently. We are each an individual with certain talents, certain flaws, certain personalities, certain genetics, certain phenotypic expressions, all of which makes each one of us unique. The one thing we are sure of in human expression is that no one of us is the same, and not one of us is totally equal to anyone else.
It is this inequality that should be embraced in our society. It is what makes life interesting for all of us, exploring our differences, using our differences to create in different ways for the betterment of us all. Each of has certain talents, which should be fostered for the good of us all. Each of us is a unique individual, completely unequal to anyone else. However, you can be damn sure that each of us deserves the opportunity to develop whatever talents we possess to their fullest extent.
We are not quite sure why Thomas Jefferson felt obliged to make this strident statement of equality about humanity, which is not only flatly false, but the exact opposite of what is true about us. Yet we swell with pride when we read this Declaration of Independence. He sure got all the rest of it right. We all deserve an equal chance to develop our skills and knowledge to the greatest degree that we can. Color, size, sex, origin, age, wealth, language do not matter in a land of equal opportunity. That means universal education, universal health care, full recognition of the rights of women and blacks, full recognition and support of all religious faiths, full recognition of homosexuality and full equal employment opportunity. We haven’t done all these things yet. We are not yet fully that land of equal opportunity.
This is how the Declaration of Independence should read: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created unequal, yet they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…”