Liberty University
Helm’s School of Government
Thomas Jefferson and The Equality of Man: What Jefferson really Meant
Submitted to: Dr. Jason Ross
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
PLCY702-(D01)
Founding Era and the Constitution
By
Michael S McGee
April, 3rd, 2022
1
Contents
Contents …………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..2
Natural Rights-Equality…………………………………………………………………………...3
Ibid……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Original Intent of Thomas Jefferson & the Declaration of Independence………………………..4
Ibid………………………………………………………………………………………………...5
The Controversy surrounding Equality and Original Intent………………………………………6
Ibid………………………………………………………………………………………………..6
In The Defense of Thomas Jefferson……………………………………………………………..7
Ibid………………………………………………………………………………………………...8
Ibid………………………………………………………………………………………………...9
Ibid……………………………………………………………………………………………….10
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….10
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………...11
Ibid……………………………………………………………………………………………….11
ii
2
Introduction
Thomas Jefferson, the founding father and constitutional era leader of colonial America,
once said one of the most famous and quoted lines of the Declaration of Independence that stated
the following: 1"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.". What sounded like a clear and concise idea by Thomas Jefferson
that we are all created equal has not been the case since he wrote those words. Over the course of
American history and modern times, the idea of equality as written in the Declaration has been
debated among political scholars and key figures in American history.
The debate over the original meaning of Thomas Jefferson's equality revolves around the
institution of slavery in early America, which was a highly hypocritical practice. In the colonial,
revolutionary, and civil war periods, slavery provided some strength to the arguments against
Thomas Jefferson as well as the opportunity for many critical figures to redefine the idea of man
being created equal, many asking, created equal to whom? A contested interpretation of the
document also provided political figures with the ability to continue with slavery, and some have
argued that Jefferson did not really understand what he wrote when he stated that all men are
created equal. I will contend that any assumption or claim that Thomas Jefferson did not mean
all men were created equal with respect to natural rights and equality of opportunity is incorrect
based on a misunderstanding of the obstacles and hurdles Jefferson faced while writing the key
founding document.
1The Constitution ; The Declaration of Independence ; The Bill of Rights & amendments ; The Articles of Confederation ; The Paris
Peace Treaty ; Presidential inaugural addresses
- Megalodon Entertainment, LLC - 2010
3
Natural Rights-Equality
The natural rights of man were a very popular concept to the American founders who
embraced and adopted many ideas from political philosopher John Locke. Paraphrasing from
John Locke in his book Two Treatise of Government argued that man by nature was free and had
rights that were created equal by God. Locke wrote that man was created with life, liberty, and
property. Because man was free by nature, Locke felt best that man would enter what he called a
civil agreement or civil contract with an institution of government. This is because Locke felt
men could not live in peace with one another unless they surrendered some of their liberties to
live in a civilized society that would protect each other from doing wrong to one another. John
Locke also stated that it was the right of those in the civil government to abolish that said
government should it ever become dangerous against the natural rights of man.
Further explaining the social contract theory, the contract theory can be broken down into
five parts for justification of the contract. 2They include reasoning for why a document is needed,
or why a constitution is needed, the creation of people and government. A definition of self
people of their similar values, rights and interests and finally, the creation of how the government
will operate. The creation of people and government in the view of Locke brought in what is
known as popular sovereignty. To Alexis De Tocqueville, this idea of government by the people,
for the people was not a new concept to him. As Tocqueville mentions 3“the principle of
sovereignty of the people, which is more or less always found at the base of nearly all human
institutions, ordinarily remains there as if buried”. This quote suggests that other countries have
tried the very same concept of America, but have failed, nonetheless, America would have its
own version of it.
3Tocqueville, Alexis de. (2012). Democracy in America. Volume 1 Issue 2. The Liberty Fund. Web. March 15, 2022.
2Lutz, Donald S. 1980. “From Covenant to Constitution in American Political Thought,” CrossRef Listing of Deleted DOIs 10, 10, no.
4: 101. https://doi.org/10.2307/3329746.
4
Original Intent of Thomas Jefferson & the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson would adopt the ideas of John Locke’s philosophy of God creating all
men equal with natural rights. He would also embrace the idea of popular sovereignty of
government for the people by the people which he would draft the Declaration of Indepence
around. 4The Declaration of Independence is put into two parts which is the justification for
leaving the British Empire and based on the concept that all men are entitled to fundamental
rights that the government is required to protect. If the government fails to protect the inalienable
rights Jefferson named as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness this gave way to the
justification of secession. Within the document, Thomas Jefferson lists the wrongs that the
Englishmen had endured under the reign of England and he ended the historic document with an
appeal to God “The Supreme Judge of The World”, the Supreme Judge who knew the intentions
of the colonist to separate themselves because of their intent to protect the equal rights of all men
that they feel were being violated by a tyrannical leader.
A plea to God and a pledge to each other became a rallying cry for the colonists to stand
up to Britain, the strongest superpower of their day, and eventually achieve America's
independence while restoring their natural and equal rights that they felt were being abused. In
spite of the fact that the Declaration of Independence became one of the most important
documents in American history, it still remains a controversial document. 5A major reason for the
debate is that Jefferson's preamble is overly vague and over ambitious. Due to this, the document
is left open to contested interpretations, which has caused the document to lose its meaning.
5Ibid 124
4McClellan, J. (2000). Liberty, Order, and Justice. An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government. Third
Edition. Liberty Fund. Published in Camel, Indian
5
The Controversy surrounding Equality and Original Intent
As stated in the previous section, Thomas Jefferson vagueness has left the door open for
different intrepations over the meaning of equality and natural rights. 6For example, the
Confederacy President Jefferson Davis used the Declaration of Independence as justification for
secession from the Union. While President Abrama Lincoln used the document as support for
eliminating slavery. Some have contended that if Jefferson truly meant that all men were created
equal, slavery would have been abolished once independence was achieved. 7After all, up until
Abraham Lincoln's election, slave owners dominated the presidency, the Senate, and the
Supreme Court. In particular, after 1840, they steered U.S. foreign policy into
hyper-expansionism.
Continuing on the idea that Thomas Jefferson did not mean what he said about equality in
the Declaration, historian John Hope Franklin buckles down on this saying Jefferson never meant
we were created equal. 8”We've never meant it. The truth is that we're a bigoted people and
always have been”. As the next quote refers to the Constitution, I would like to point out that the
Declaration and Constitution are connected, as the Constitution is the law of the land protecting
the rights outlined by Jefferson in the Declaration. 9Nathan Huggins a Professor for Harvard
criticized the American Framers for establishing not freedom but a 10"model totalitarian society."
Huggins accuses the Framers of avoiding mentioning the words slave or slavery in the
10Ibid, 4
9Ibid, 4
8Souza, Dinesh D. 1995. “We the Slave Owners: In Jefferson’s America, Were Some Men Not Created Equal?,” Policy review
(Washington, D.C.) 74, 74, no. 74: 30. https://search.proquest.com/docview/1300153560.
7Opal, J. M. 2019. “WHERE ALL MEN WERE CREATED EQUAL - James L. Huston The American and British Debate Over
Equality, 1776–1920. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2017. Xiii + 270 Pages. $47.95 (Cloth), ISBN
9780807167441,” The journal of the gilded age and progressive era 18, 18, no. 1: 133–34.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S15377814180004760
6IIbid 124.
6
Constitution in an effort to purify their new creation and avoid the 11"Deforming mirror of
truth." The Founding, he concludes, was not a good idea.
An Englishmen questioned the intent and meaning of natural rights and equality of
colonial America. 12”In what sense are they created equal?” Was it because of size, strength,
understanding, figure, morals, civil accomplishments, or life occurrences the Englishman asked?
The Englishman rejected the claims of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence
citing he, along with others, came to the conclusions they did through ignorance and false self
evidence claims and that no two men are equal.
13Lastly, it has been held that the idea of all men being created equal implied that the
American people were entitled to the same rights as the English. This claim was not impossible,
after all, the colonists felt like second-class citizens compared to their homeland citizens, but
simply agreeing that they should be permitted the same rights as Englishmen is undermining the
meaning of the founding document of natural rights and equality.
In The Defense of Thomas Jefferson
Here, I will not refute that Jefferson was somewhat vague in some of his writings, which
left the original intent of the Declaration open to debate. I will however argue that the arguments
against Jefferson are based on ignorance of what Thomas Jefferson faced while drafting the
Declaration of Independence. According to his Cornerstone speech, Jefferson Davis used the
vagueness of the Declaration as justification for succession, which attempted to preserve slavery.
Davis is mistaken if he believes that Thomas Jefferson's vagueness about slavery in the
Declaration gives him a claim to succession from the union on that principle. Thomas Jefferson's
13Ibid, 130.
12 McClellan, J. (2000). Liberty, Order, and Justice. An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government. Third
Edition. Liberty Fund. Published in Camel, Indian
11Ibid, 4
7
original draft of the Declaration of Independence dealt with slavery as one of the grievances
against King George. Jefferson wrote in the first draft against the King
14”He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred
rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him,
captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur
miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the
opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great
Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold,
he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit
or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might
want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in
arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by
murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former
crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which he
urges them to commit against the LIVES of another”.
It is quite clear that Thomas Jefferson originally intended on having slavery abolished
once America became a free and independent nation. However, not everyone around colonial
America shared the same values as Jefferson. 15Delegates from Georgia and South Carolina
strongly opposed this section of the Declaration and Thomas Jefferson, using his wisdom,
eliminated it for the purpose of keeping the colonies united against the King and Britain.
15 Ibid1.
14 “Draft of the Declaration of Independence.” <span style="font-style: normal">Teaching American History</span>, Last modified
February 24, 2022.
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/rough-draft-of-the-declaration-of-independence/..
8
According to Professor Nathan Huggins and historian John Hope Franklin, the founding
documents deliberately left out words like slaves and slavery to delineate the nation as a bigoted
one. I will refute what Jefferson wrote about America always being a bigoted country in the
writings of The Rights of British America. Why, then, did Thomas Jefferson, among others, try
to stop the institution of slavery in colonial America? Jefferson said,16“But previous to the
enfranchisement of the slaves we have, it is necessary toexclude all further importations from
Africa; yet our repeated attempts to effect this by prohibitions, and by imposing duties which
might amount to a prohibition, have been hitherto defeated by his majesty’s negative: Thus
preferring the immediate advantages of a few British corsairs to the lasting interests of the
American states, and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this infamous practice”.
So it is quite obvious by this statement of Jefferson that he, along with many other framers
attempted to prohibb slavery and trade of slaves thus being bigots would not apply.
Nathan Huggins, who dismissed the Declaration and Constitution as hateful and racist,
did not understand the documents either. While I have already explained why the Decelartion
does not contain slavery provisions, it is of importance to note that Article 1 Section 9 of the
Constitution says that Congress shall begin prohibiting slavery imports in 1801. Furthermore,
Frederick Douglas, former slave and slavery abolitionist this about the Founding Fathers 17“The
signers of the Declaration of Independence,” Douglass told his audience that day, “were brave
men. They were great men too…. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes". He went on to say
18that both the Decelartion and Constitution gave The United States means to be able to adapt a
plan for freedom and equality in America concerning former slaves and other people of color.
18 Myers, Peter C. “Frederick Douglass's America: Race, Justice, and the Promise of the Founding.” The Heritage Foundation, n.d.
https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/frederick-douglasss-america-race-justice-and-the-promise-the-founding.
17 Myers, Peter C. “Frederick Douglass's America: Race, Justice, and the Promise of the Founding.” The Heritage Foundation, n.d.
https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/frederick-douglasss-america-race-justice-and-the-promise-the-founding..
16 “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.” <span style="font-style: normal">Teaching American History</span>, Last
modified February 18, 2022. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/a-summary-view-of-the-rights-of-british-america-2/.
9
As for the Englishman who questioned how we were all created equal, he did not realize
Thomas Jefferson was not referring to equality in terms of outcome, life circumstances, or
physical gifts and abilities. It is about equal opportunity and the protection of that opportunity.
Returning back The Two Treatise of Government, Locke said 19Because of personal bias and
ignorance of the study of law, men will be filled with their self interest. 20”Some men will not
restrain themselves by the law of nature, even perhaps if they can perceive it, and will unjustly
harm others”. So the social contract theory needs to be protected, which I addressed near the
beginning of the paper, so that all men have, while on earth, the same opportunity to live out
their natural rights of life, liberty, and property, freely and equally.
Conclusion
Although some historians and professors believe Thomas Jefferson meant equality by the
Declaration, or even if he even meant it. In my view, Thomas Jefferson meant what he said when
he maintained that all men are created equal by God with the rights of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. In the latter sense, Jefferson did not mean equal in outcome, physical
strength, or giftings, or just the equal rights of his English brothers, but the equal rights of
opportunities and treatment under the law, something the declaration concentrated on. The
Founding Fathers were not racist bigots, but their attempts to end slavery were resisted by
England and their own circles. Thus the need to put on the backburner the moral conflict of
slavery. While unpopular to write, I believe slavery was a necessary evil and Thomas Jefferson
understanding the tension over its institution domestically and far made the needed changes to
the Declaration of Independence in order to achieve America's freedom from Great Britain.
However, as made clear in the paper, Jefferson opposed slavery as it violated the laws of nature
20 Ibid Pg, 549.
19 Hunt, Bruce A. “Locke on Equality.” Political Research Quarterly 69, no. 3 (September 2016): 546–56.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912916652239
10
and nature's God, and the equality of all men and worked to abolish it once America was a free
country.
11
Bibliography
“A Summary View of the Rights of British America.” <span style="font-style:
normal">Teaching American History</span>, Last modified February 18, 2022.
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/a-summary-view-of-the-rights-of-british-america-
2
“Draft of the Declaration of Independence.” <span style="font-style: normal">Teaching
American History</span>, Last modified February 24, 2022.
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/rough-draft-of-the-declaration-of-independence/..
Hunt, Bruce A. “Locke on Equality.” Political Research Quarterly 69, no. 3 (September
2016): 546–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912916652239.
Lutz, Donald S. 1980. “From Covenant to Constitution in American Political Thought,”
CrossRef Listing of Deleted DOIs 10, 10, no. 4: 101. https://doi.org/10.2307/3329746
McClellan, J. (2000). Liberty, Order, and Justice. An Introduction to the Constitutional
Principles of American Government. Third Edition. Liberty Fund. Published in Camel, Indian
Myers, Peter C. “Frederick Douglass's America: Race, Justice, and the Promise of the
Founding.” <span style="font-style: normal">The Heritage Foundation</span>, n.d.
https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/frederick-douglasss-america-race-justice-and-th
e-promise-the-founding.
Opal, J. M. 2019. “WHERE ALL MEN WERE CREATED EQUAL - James L. Huston
The American and British Debate Over Equality, 1776–1920. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press, 2017. Xiii + 270 Pages. $47.95 (Cloth), ISBN 9780807167441,” The journal of
the gilded age and progressive era 18, 18, no. 1: 133–34.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537781418000476.
12
Souza, Dinesh D. 1995. “We the Slaveowners: In Jefferson’s America, Were Some Men
Not Created Equal?,” Policy review (Washington, D.C.) 74, 74, no. 74: 30.
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1300153560.\
Tocqueville, Alexis de. (2012). Democracy in America. Volume 1 Issue 2. The Liberty
Fund. Web. March 15, 2022.
