Untitled Essay, Research Paper
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 the same
rights because they were not legally citizens of the United States of America.
This issue was dealt with in the ruling of the Dredd Scott case. Lincoln
points out that the ruling of the case was based on historical fact that
was wrongly assumed. Judge Taney, who presided over the case stated that
“Negroes were no part of the people who made, or for whom was made, the
Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution of the United States.” This
statement was later refuted by Judge Curtis who shows that “in five of the
then thirteen states…free negroes were voters, and, in proportion to
their numbers, had the same part in making the Constitution that the white
people had.” The fact that Negroes were citizens who participated in the
framing of the Constitution gave them the same freedoms as the white men
who helped shape the American ideals classifying the Negro as a “citizen.”
The strongest persuasion that Abraham could have possibly given the American
people were the words that the Declaration of Independence so powerfully
spoke. Lincoln fully understood the phrase “all men were created equal” as
pertaining to the entire human family. He explained:
“[they] intended to include all men, but they did not
intend to declare all men equal in all respects. They
did not mean to say all were equal in color, size,
intellect, moral developments, or social capacity.”
This statement was perfectly logical. The Declaration goes on to state that
the “inalienable rights” that human beings have are the rights to “life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This was the idea which Abraham believed
was the “standard maxim for free society.” Abraham even used a parallel from
the Bible. “’As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also
perfect.’” This quote from Matthew 5:48 was used to illustrate that
God had set an impossible goal for us to attain, and in the same way the
framers of the Constitution and writers of the Declaration of Independence
gave mankind an endeavor to give equality to all mankind. 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. 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. 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.
In fact, what worth was the Declaration eighty years after it was written
if it’s only purpose was as statement of independence from Great Britain?
What’s more, the Declaration of Independence would have given no freedoms
to men residing in America if it had read, as Douglas implied, “’We
hold these truths to be self-evident that all British subjects who were on
this continent eighty-one years ago, were created equal to all British subjects
born and then residing in Great Britain.’” To the citizen of the United
States, the Fourth of July would have come to mean absolutely nothing if
freedom was granted to an exclusive group of people.
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. Abraham agreed
with the separation of the races when it came to mixed blood. He gave Americans
numerical statistics which showed that interracial marriages were significantly
less within free states. The end of slavery (and thus separation of whites
and blacks) “is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation.” 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. The mixing of the blood was occurring because the Negroes and whites
were in forced contact. The elimination of an almost universal fear was yet
another argument for the separation of the races.
Although he was not a ‘modern day’ civil right’s activist,
Lincoln’s logic eventually led to the abolition of slavery, tragically
driving the nation into a state of civil war. 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.
Immigrants, of all nationalities and colors now look to America as a symbol
of great ideals. Abraham said more prophetically than he could imagine that
the American ideals of freedom should be “constantly spreading and deepening
its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all peoples
of all colors everywhere.” 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.”