[Fishrrman]

"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."

You should be able to recognize the quotation without attribution.

How does being less smart than someone else negate the rights that are recognized in the central holding of the Declaration of Independence?

I recognize the quote without attrition.

And without doubt, I also recognize that when Mr. Jefferson wrote that, he was _not_ referring to all men of everywhere in the world, but from the perspective that "all men" meant all the men of the known civilized world.

- John

[allmendream]

And without doubt, I also recognize that when Mr. Jefferson wrote that, he was _not_ referring to all men of everywhere in the world, but from the perspective that “all men” meant all the men of the known civilized world.

- John

What part of the world did you think was unknown in Thomas Jefferson’s time?

What men do you think he did not mean to count as equal?

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever”

Thomas Jefferson

“The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust, his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the auspices of heaven, for a total emancipation, and that this is disposed, in the order of events, to be with the consent of the masters, rather than by their extirpation.”

Thomas Jefferson