What did the Founders mean by declaring "all men are created equal?" Given the existence of slavery in Revolutionary America, did they really only mean to say that all "white English Protestant Christian males who own property" are created equal? If, on the other hand, the Founders meant the term "men" to be inclusive of all human beings--black and white, male and female--then how are we to understand the relation between their universal principles (which would condemn slavery) and their actual practice (the fact that slavey continued to exist in America until the Civil War)? How does the requirement of consent as the only legitimate basis of government qualify the pursuit of equalty in a free society? What is Lincoln's response to the claim that the signers of the Declaration must be considered hypocrites if they intended to include blacks as "created equal" to whites while still keeping them in slavery? This lecture, by Lucas Morel of Washington and Lee University, is part of the 2004 Ashbrook Summer Teacher Institute "Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War."

Author:  Lucas Morel

Duration: 01:30:35

Published: 2007-02-15

Tag: lucas morel   morel   lincoln   abraham lincoln   founding   american founding   slavery   african-american history   equality   declaration   declaration of independence