The+Declaration+of+Independence+and+the+States

The Declaration of Independence "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.  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."  The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, yet some of the creators of this important document had slaves working at their homes who did back-breaking work for no pay. That is not equality. Does this mean that these men were hypocrites? Maybe-but Thomas Jefferson's original draft contained a powerful anti-slavery declaration. The statement appeared in the list of grievances against the British King:  "He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of // infidel // powers, is the warfare of this // Christian // king of Great Britain determined to keep open a market where // MEN // should be bought and sold."  Because of the delegates from South Carolina (the first state in the Confederacy to secede from the Union in the Civil War less than 100 years later), Georgia, and some of the slave-trading New England states, this slavery-condemning statement was removed from the final copy of the Declaration.  

The Declaration of Independence, I think, is one of the most remarkable documents in the world. . . 'Inalienable rights’... 'Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'. . . 'We hold these truths to be self-evident.'. . . [But] it didn't apply to black folks. Thomas Jefferson kept slaves. But Thomas Jefferson nevertheless wrote these marvelous words, and he understood the inconsistency. . . . - General Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Quotes in History:

[|DOI.wmv] ~Declaration of Independence 