What is the meaning of equal?
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,  Some of the most powerful and least understood words are part of our Declaration of Independence. Historians have differed as to just what these words meant when they were written and what they have come to mean in our society today. It is a well-known fact that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves when he edited the Declaration of Independence. So, isnt it obvious that he did not mean all men? It is also a well-known fact that men in eighteenth century writing often meant all mankind, including women, and yet women had no right to vote. So is it any wonder that we continue to discuss and debate just what Jefferson and the Founding Fathers meant when they issued these words in justifying the American Revolution that Gordon Wood has described as creating a new understanding of history, knowledge and truth.