"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 to be read because of the fact that "all men are created equal".
On June 1th, 1776, the Continental Congress responded to the proposal of Virginia representative Richard Henry Lee (uncle of robert lee, commander-in-chief of the Southern 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 to declare their determination to become independent.
among them, Thomas Jefferson is the author. After Jefferson finished the first draft, he 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 up the pen and made a modification to the preamble 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 …".
As it turns out, Franklin's inspirational revision is worthy of his dignity of being on a hundred-dollar bill. "All men are created equal" with "self-evident", which has transcendental color and divine dignity.
Extended information:
The Declaration of Independence is influenced by the American spirit of * * *, which is the basic framework of freedom. In addition, the manifesto also reflects the philosophy of the Enlightenment, including natural law, self-determination, and deism. The ideals in the manifesto, even some fragments of them, directly quoted the works of the British philosopher John Locke, especially his Second Treatise on Government with the title of "the true origin, category and end of civilized government".
in his thesis, Locke supports the belief that the government is established by the governed. Locke wrote that human beings have natural human rights. Other declarations of independence were influenced by algernon Sidney's speeches and works Wawrzyniec Grzymala Goslicki, and Thomas Paine.
according to Jefferson's idea, the purpose of independence is "not to find new principles or new arguments that have never been seen before ... but to put the common sense of things before the eyes of the world, win approval with concise sentences, and make it judge itself from our forced position."
Baidu Encyclopedia-Declaration of Independence