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.Within this civilization-defining sentence, there are numerous elements of staggering importance, such as the foundational acknowledgment of our Creator, that we have certain unalienable rights, and that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Socialists are particularly vexed by the fact that we have an unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness, and not happiness itself.
Each section, and indeed each word, can trigger Talmudic exploration of its depth and impact. But there is no greater part of this sentence, the Declaration of Independence, and of the entirety of Western civilization than: all men are created equal.Today, this seems like an axiomatic truth, with equality — in so many forms — becoming a baseline assumption in the West. And why not? Of course, people are equal! Of course, every human being possesses inherent value and dignity! Of course, governments should not divide citizens into categories of greater and lesser worth!But why?After all, for the majority of human existence, equality was as far from reality as possible. In the context of our entire history, there is nothing obvious about the notion that “all men are created equal.”Sketch, George Washington with Jefferson and Hamilton by Constantino Brumidi, 1872 ca.(Courtesy of the U.S. Senate Collection)
