"All Men are Created Equal"

Solution Preview

Let's take a closer look. I also attached a supporting article for consideration, some of which this response is drawn.

RESPONSE:

1. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "all men are created equal" as part of the Declaration of Independence, do you think he meant women too? Why or why not? Use at least two historical references to support your argument..

Jefferson probably was referring to women as well as men, when he said "all men were created equal." First, historically, the pronoun 'men' has been used as a genderless noun meaning 'people', which is probably how Jefferson was using it.
Second, Jefferson was interested in ending slavery, which included women slaves as well as men slaves. Therefore, the use of "men" was more than likely aimed at both women and men. However, since Jefferson lived in an era where there were there was not equal opportunities for men and women, even though he argued that they were created equal, men and women had different roles that afforded them different opportunities, which Jefferson believed in adamantly. Since women were not called upon even to discuss politics, Jefferson saw no reason to give them the vote. Enfranchised women might take it into their heads to run for office. "The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor I" (as cited in Miller, 1995, p. 184). (1)

Why then did the man who wrote "all men are created equal" and who believed slavery was a crime continue to own slaves, including both men and women? Historians have debated many reasons. However, because Jefferson's main intentions were to stop the slave trade by including the statement that "all men were created equal", it seems clear that the phrase "all men were created equal" included both men and women since women were also slaves and there is no historical data suggesting that he meant only ending slavery for men, but for both women and men.

Jefferson, like his eighteenth century, male, aristocratic, contemporaries, saw women in a tightly regimented role. For them to break out of these imposed boundaries was repugnant. However, Jefferson still seemed to recognize women as having the right to equal human liberties, regardless of roles. "In the United States, during Jefferson's presidency, a female politician was said to be only slightly less disgusting than a female infidel" (Miller, 1995, p. 181). (1) On his trip to Paris, for example, where women were far more liberated than American women, Jefferson (1788) wote:

"You think that the pleasures of Paris more than supply its want of domestic happiness; in other words, that a Parisian is happier than an American. You will change your opinion, and come over to mine in the end. Recollect the women of this capital [Paris] , some on foot, some on horses, and some in carriages, hunting pleasure in the streets, in routs and assemblies, and forgetting that they have left it behind them in their nurseries; compare them with our own countrywomen occupied in the tender and tranquil amusements of domestic life, and confess that it is a comparison of Americans and angels." (7)

Interesting, the phrase was also quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his famous I Have a Dream speech, as the "creed" of the United States; thus, at that time, the word "men" was still being used as a genderless term:

" I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. (3)

Jefferson was a God-fearing man of his time and the statement that "all men were created equal" referred to all people including African ...