The Declaration & Human Equality

The first self-evident truth held by America’s Founding Fathers was “that all men are created equal.”  By equal, of course, they did not mean that humans all have the same talents, mental capacities, physical size, sex, ethnicity, personality or stations in life. That was self-evident. Additionally, they did not believe and were not inferring equality of economic or life outcomes.  That also would not be reality and, therefore, should be self-evident.

As Declaration scholar Matthew Spaulding put it, “The equality of all men does not deny qualities by which humans are unequal … But it means that those human differences – physical, ethnic, social, racial, sexual, intellectual – are insignificant as a matter of right and that the wise or more intelligent, or the stronger or more successful, do not have a just claim to rule because of these characteristics.  As a source of right, nature gives each an equal claim because all are equally human.”

So as not to be misunderstood, John Adams was quick to clarify: “The genuine Equality of human Nature really means little more than that We are all of the same Species: made by the same God: possessed of Minds and Bodies alike in Essence:  having all the same Reason, Passions, Affections and appetites.”

Adams continued:  “All Men are Men and not Beasts:  Men and not Birds:  Men and not Fishes.”  He was saying all humans are created equal because (wait for it) … they are all human!  It’s the essence of our humanity that makes us inherently equal in the eyes of God (if not in the eyes of other humans).  

To be human was to have the capabilities of human reason (able to recognize reality even if one lived in denial),  a conscience (even if it has become depraved), and to think for one’s self (even if you chose otherwise).  To be fully human is to discern morally and make decisions accordingly.

But the conviction of human equality went even deeper than that for the Founders.  Humans were equal, they believed, because humanity bore the stamp of divinity.  The Founders believed every human being was made in the image of God. Those enshrined words of “endowed by their Creator” are what ultimately established the grounds of human equality and “inalienable rights.” Anything short of that and our liberties become vulnerable and negotiable, forever susceptible to changing political whims and shifting cultural winds.

Brian Schroeder is the former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction, an ordained minister and professional family/youth counselor.

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