Why did the Deceleration of Independence have "all men are created equal" and there were slaves?

Question

Why did the Deceleration of Independence have "all men are created equal" and there were slaves?
I do not get it

thankss

Please I want a reasonable explanation. Not support.

Answer 1

As for the Founders' principles, we will see that they were sincerely held and conscientiously implemented. Their policies and institutions were sensible if imperfect means by which the equal rights of Americans would be secured within the limits imposed by an imperfect human nature.

On slavery: Every leading Founder acknowledged that slavery was wrong. Slavery was legal and practiced in every state in 1776; by the end of the founding era, more than a hundred thousand slaves had been freed by the outlawing of slavery in seven of the original thirteen states or by individual acts of manumission, especially in the South. Most important, the ground for the eventual total abolition of slavery was laid in establishment of the equality principle at the center of the American polity by Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Hamilton, Adams, Washington, and other leading Founders.

On the poor: Far from being indifferent to the poor, the Founders regarded the protection of private property rights as a necessary means for the poor to escape the kind of subjugation by the wealthy that they had experienced in Old Europe. And far from throwing the needy into the streets, the Founders maintained government-funded "safety-net" programs for them. Their property rights and welfare policies, which are often scorned today for their supposed indifference to the poor, were arguably more just and compassionate than ours.

On women: Women were understood by everyone to be included in the "all men" (all human beings) who are created equal. In New Jersey, women voted in elections routinely during the 1790s and early 1800s, for the first time anywhere in world history. This fact, as we will see, is clearly connected to the Founders' equality principle. So also was the idea, which grew during and after the founding era, that women and men have equal importance, but different roles, in the family and society. The best protection of women's rights, in the minds of both the men and the women of the founding era, was the core private association of a free and civilized society: lifelong marriage and the family. The alternatives—permitting no-fault divorce, pushing women into the job market, and legitimizing the treatment of women (and men) as sex objects—were thought to dehumanize and exploit, not liberate.

On the supposedly undemocratic electorate: Far from excluding the poor, the electorate in the founding era was the most democratic of any large nation in history. It included about 85 to 90 percent of free males. Those Founders who defended a property requirement for voting did so, not in opposition to, but on the basis of, the equality principle of the Declaration of Independence. They feared—as we will see, not without reason—that the propertyless poor might become the tools of influential and wealthy demagogues, distorting election results and endangering the survival of liberty. They changed their minds on this point as it became increasingly clear that the poor were not opponents but friends of the rights of mankind, including the right to acquire and possess property.

On naturalization and citizenship: The Founders' policy generously welcomed as equal citizens people from many nations and religions. However, there was a concern that immigrants might come in numbers too large, or from countries too despotic, to assimilate to the American way of life. There was also a concern that newcomers would not possess, or be in a position to acquire soon, the principles and habits necessary for democratic citizenship. Naturalization in early America was therefore limited primarily to those who had been formed by Western civilization. Still, the American way of life was informed by the universal principles of the Declaration. So although the Founders expected most immigrants to come from Europe, their principles made it possible for people of every race and continent to become, in Lincoln's phrase, "blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh" of the Founding Fathers who came before them.

Answer 2

You are mistaken. John Locke said that all men were equal. Not Thomas Jefferson. John Locke, who was a big influence on the Enlightenment, inspired much of our government, including the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. But, for your question, Thomas Jefferson was a very paradoxical man. He owned slaves, but was also against it. That being said; he and Benjamin Franklin did not want slavery in the new government, but were afraid that the south would then resign from the Union, being big on slavery. At that time in our government, we could not have a Civil War, so they had to do what was best for the country.

Answer 3

In an earlier draft of the Declaration, Jefferson had a passage condemning the slave trade, but it was taken out by the committee who edited the document, which included Ben Franklin. They took it out because they needed the support of the Southern colonies, and any condemnation of slavery would have alienated those colonies and doomed the Revolution to failure. (Slavery was legal in all 13 colonies, but it was rare in the Northern colonies, and they began outlawing it soon after the Revolution.)

By ignoring the issue the colonies stayed united and won the Revolution, but the issue never went away, and finally culminated in the Civil War. Interestingly, both the Continental Army and the British Army offered freedom to slaves who fought for their side (but many who fought for the Continental Army ended up being returned to slavery after the war!).

Answer 4

That's a good question. Slavery was around during the 1800's. The declaration of independence was written in 1776. The south thought that they weren't apart of the United States at the time. That's why during the Civil War the north was fighting the south. If they south had won, they would have been their own country.

Answer 5

All men are created equal, There just not treated equal, And that's a shame.

Answer 6

I can not recall who said it, but one of the founders said slavery was like holding onto a tiger by the ears. You don't like holding onto it, but you dare not let go.

Look what happened when the nation let go of those ears. Gettysburg had 43,000 casualties (wounded, dead, & missing from both sides) and was not the bloodiest battle of that war.

Answer 7

because they did not consider slaves men, they considered them possesions

and also it didn't include woman, just man

Answer 8

Notice that women were not included either. Thank god we have progressed as a civilization.

Answer 9

Think of when it was written. 1776. Does that help?

Answer 10

When they said "men" they meant white entitled landowners.