All Men Created Equal
America has undergone incredible hardships as a nation. No issue has had more impact on the development of the American definition of freedom than the issue of slavery. Did the Constitution specify which men were created equal? Surprisingly enough the phrase "all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights" did not mean what it does today. The nation was divided on the issue of slavery and the rights of the black man in its early stages as a growing republic. Abraham Lincoln was a brave pioneer who dared to rub his hand against the grain of slavery bringing the original ideals of America's founders to a new light. He was a man who felt he was witnessing a slow decay in the foundation of the American principles. His views were not met with unanimous applause from the American people. He battled against an equally strong constituency - the slave owner's and their presidential candidate, Judge Douglas. Abraham's grounds for the abolition of slavery were based on the words that were scripted in the Declaration of Independence and the meaning of those words as they related to American citizens and the celebration of the 4th of July. Many American's argued that the Negroes were not entitled to t
" This was the idea which Abraham believed was the "standard maxim for free society. Lincoln fully understood the phrase "all men were created equal" as pertaining to the entire human family. They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity. " As a result of his push for the preservation of the American ideal of freedom, slavery no longer exists and is even considered unconstitutional on the grounds that it is in direct contradiction with the conception that "all men are created equal. Douglas' argument for this hypothesis was: "'they [the writers] referred to the white race alone, and not to the African, when they declared all men to have been created equal'" It was terribly wrong because 'white' did not necessarily mean British. The mixing of the blood was occurring because the Negroes and whites were in forced contact. Douglas argued that the writers only meant to give the British citizens in America equal rights to the British citizens then residing in Great Britain. The elimination of an almost universal fear was yet another argument for the separation of the races. " The reasoning was based on the frequency of mulatto births arising from slaves and their masters in comparison to the number of mulatto births that were among free states. " Abraham even used a parallel from the Bible. However, the American ideals which he embraced have made their way into our modern societies standards leading to civil right's programs which are constantly being reformed. Abraham agreed with the separation of the races when it came to mixed blood. The end of slavery (and thus separation of whites and blacks) "is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation. Though Americans were divided on the issue of Negro rights and their right to citizenship, an almost unanimous fear was the possibility of an increase in interracial marriages following the abolition of slavery. Where did this statement leave white immigrants from Germany and France who were not necessarily 'British'? The Declaration was not meant as a mere statement of liberation from Britain but as the basis of a government that would uphold the belief that the people deserved to be free from a King or other form of rule which infringed on those rights that mankind deserves.
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Acceptance Essays
