"All men are created equal" is embedded at the beginning of the second paragraph of the American Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence has become a classic text because "all men are created equal" and is worth reading.
1776, 10 In June, the Continental Congress responded to the proposal of Virginia Rep. Richard Henry Lee (robert lee's great-uncle, commander-in-chief of the Confederate army during the Civil War) and appointed a five-member team composed of john adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, robert livingston and roger sherman to draft a proclamation and declare their determination to become independent.
Among them, Thomas Jefferson is the author. Jefferson completed the first draft and submitted it to the respected Franklin for review. Franklin had a gift for advertising copywriting and was better at rhetoric.
When he saw that "all men are created equal", he took a pen and revised the preface of this sentence, replacing the slightly lengthy "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable …" in Jefferson's original text with "We hold these truths to be self-evident …".
Facts have proved that Franklin's inspirational revision is worthy of his honor of boarding a hundred-dollar bill. "All men are created equal" has the meaning of "self-evident", with transcendental color and sacred dignity.
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The Declaration of Independence is influenced by American pacifism, which is the basic framework of freedom. In addition, the declaration also reflects the philosophy of the Enlightenment, including natural law, self-determination and deism. The ideals in the declaration, even some fragments of them, directly quoted the works of the British philosopher John Locke, especially his second book On Government, entitled The Real Origin, Category and End of Civilized Government.
In his thesis, Locke supports the belief that the government should be established by the ruled. Locke wrote that human beings have natural human rights. Other declarations of independence were influenced by the speeches and works of algernon Sidney and Thomas Paine.
According to Jefferson's idea, the purpose of independence "is not to find new principles or arguments that have never been seen before ... but to put the common sense of things in front of the world, win recognition with concise sentences, and let it judge itself from our forced position."
Baidu Encyclopedia-Declaration of Independence