Not in this case. What *WE*, meaning modern people, interpret those words to mean is *NOT* what the representatives of 13 slave holding states interpreted them to mean.
Modern *WE* think they were referring to slaves, because that's what we have all been taught to think based on the adoration of Lincoln's speech in which he highlights those words, but 1776 Americans saw those words as referring to themselves, and very little thought was given that these words should apply to slaves.
Jefferson, may have, but most others and the people they represented saw them as referring to the white colonists who believed themselves to be second class subjects compared to the English.
So yeah, sometimes words mean what they say, but not in this case.
So yeah, sometimes words mean what they say, but not in this case.
Very little? States abolished slavery or put themselves on the road to abolition. Jefferson wanted to blame King George for slavery and the slave trade, though the Continental Congress took those words out of the Declaration. Washington eventually did free his slaves. Hamilton's friend, John Laurens wanted emancipation in South Carolina. Abolitionist societies were formed. Slavery was banned in the Northwest Territories, and the Constitution authorized an end to the slave trade in 1808. Foreigners like Lafayette and Kościuszko did what they could to help Americans live up to their professed values and convictions.