![]() They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were then actually enjoying that equality, or yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal,-equal in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development, or social capacity. ![]() ![]() I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. To explain this interpretation, I could not do better than to quote Lincoln: In the social American imagination, political equality rhetorically originates with Jefferson’s declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” However, Jefferson conceived it, it is Lincoln’s interpretation of the phrase that definitively determined its popular perception. I wish to clarify the origin and possible applications of the concept of political equality in an American context. Political equality is a concept that darts back and forth between fact and value, in theory and in practice: “Men are equal,” and “men should be treated equally.” The former implies the latter the latter works to make the former true. “The idea of equality is used in political discussion both in statements of fact, or what purport to be statements of fact-hat men are equal-and in statements of political principles or aims-that men should be equal, as at present they are not.” -Bernard Williams 1 To receive a print copy and read the other essays, order here. This essay is a contribution from our symposium Toward a Just Political Economy.
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