Essay 2 Declaration of Independence — Equality: The First and Most Broken Promise

This essay explores the concept of equality as expressed in the Declaration’s famous phrase “all men are created equal”, how that principle has been affirmed, betrayed, and reclaimed over time, and how Douglass, King, and Hughes each interpreted, challenged, and aspired toward its full realization.

I. Introduction: A Self-Evident Truth?

Of all the words written in the Declaration of Independence, none have echoed louder—or rung more hollow—than the claim that “all men are created equal.”

This single phrase, nestled in the Declaration’s preamble, is often treated as America’s moral cornerstone. It has been cited by revolutionaries and presidents, by schoolchildren and Supreme Court justices. It is engraved in stone at memorials, recited in pledges, and invoked in struggles for justice.

Yet from the moment it was written in 1776, this declaration of equality was riddled with contradiction. It was drafted by a man who enslaved over 600 human beings. It was signed by men who excluded women, indigenous peoples, and the vast majority of humanity from political and legal personhood.

Despite its universality in theory, the claim to equality was, in practice, a narrow declaration—limited to white, landowning men. Still, its words contained seeds of transformation.

This essay examines the complex history of that phrase—its betrayal and its power. We will explore how Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Langston Hughes each responded to this central idea: not to reject it, but to demand its truth. For them, equality was not a fact; it was a struggle.

And it still is.

II. The Declaration’s Equality Clause: Radical Simplicity, Narrow Reality

When Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal,” he was drawing on Enlightenment principles and natural rights philosophy. He was influenced by John Locke and others who argued that human beings have inherent dignity and rights, not because of birth or status, but by virtue of being human.

In its historical context, this phrase was politically explosive. In 18th-century Europe, most societies were structured by monarchy, aristocracy, and divine right. To assert human equality was to attack inherited privilege and autocracy.

But Jefferson’s “all men” was neither inclusive nor accidental. In the political world of the Founders, it meant white, male property-owners—those seen as rational and capable of self-rule. Women were not seen as political actors. Black people were enslaved and legally defined as property. Native peoples were labeled “merciless savages” in the same document.

The ideal of equality was revolutionary in scope—but exclusionary in application. From the beginning, the United States has lived in tension between this creed of equality and its deeply hierarchical social structure.

III. Frederick Douglass: “You Profess to Believe That ‘All Men Are Created Equal’”

In his 1852 address “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, Frederick Douglass directly attacked the hypocrisy embedded in American claims to equality.

“You profess to believe that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth. … You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Douglass does not dismiss the Declaration’s language; instead, he throws it back at his audience like a mirror. How can a country that claims equality hold millions in slavery?

His speech is filled with biting irony. To him, the Fourth of July is a celebration of freedom by those who deny it to others. His challenge is moral, legal, and theological:

“There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.”

Yet even in his outrage, Douglass insists on the power of the equality ideal. He calls it a “saving principle.” He does not want to erase the Declaration—he wants the nation to live up to it.

For Douglass, the phrase “all men are created equal” is not a historical artifact—it is a standard by which the country must be judged.

IV. King’s Moral Vision: Equality as Creed

A century later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. placed that same line at the center of the Civil Rights Movement. In his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, King declared:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:

‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

King’s use of the word creed is significant. A creed is a belief so foundational that it defines identity. King understood that for America to rise to its full promise, it had to treat its founding words not as propaganda but as a solemn commitment.

In calling for integration, voting rights, and an end to racial violence, King was not asking for special treatment. He was demanding the realization of equality—something long promised and long denied.

King also understood that equality did not mean sameness. It meant dignity, access, and opportunity. In later speeches, he moved beyond legal equality to demand economic justice as well:

“What good is it to sit at a lunch counter if you can’t afford a hamburger?”

In King’s vision, equality was inseparable from justice.

V. Hughes and the Dream Deferred

While Douglass gave speeches and King led movements, Langston Hughes gave voice to the emotional and spiritual dimensions of inequality. In poems like “Let America Be America Again” and “Harlem,” he spoke for those whom equality had eluded.

In “Let America Be America Again,” Hughes writes:

“Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)”

The parenthetical voice is crucial. It reminds us that even as the myth of equality was told and retold, many never experienced it.

Yet Hughes doesn’t call for abandoning the dream. Instead, he demands its fulfillment:

“O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!”

Equality, for Hughes, is both memory and hope—a broken promise and an oath waiting to be kept.

VI. Legal vs. Lived Equality

It’s one thing to declare equality. It’s another to realize it.

The U.S. has gone through waves of legal transformation:

• The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.
• The 14th Amendment guaranteed equal protection.
• The 15th and 19th Amendments promised voting rights regardless of race or sex.
• The Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965) codified further protections.

Yet laws alone cannot erase centuries of inequality. Structural racism, wealth disparities, unequal schooling, health gaps, and mass incarceration are all legacies of systems that denied equality.

As King noted, formal equality is not the same as substantive equality. A nation may remove legal barriers and still fail to ensure fair treatment and opportunity.

VII. Who Counts as “All”? Expanding the Circle

The phrase “all men are created equal” has been contested and redefined generation after generation.

Women used the Declaration’s logic in the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, writing:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal.”

Abolitionists cited the Declaration in calling slavery a violation of natural law.

Immigrants appealed to it when denied rights due to race or origin.

LGBTQ+ advocates cited the Declaration in marriage equality cases.

This gradual expansion of “all” has not been automatic or inevitable. It has required struggle, sacrifice, and relentless pressure. Every inclusion has been earned.

VIII. Equality as an Aspiration, Not a Fact

The deepest misunderstanding of the equality principle is to treat it as a settled fact. It is not. It is a moral horizon.

Douglass, King, and Hughes all understood this. They refused to let America treat its founding creed as accomplished. Instead, they asked:

“If all are created equal, why are so many treated as if they are not?”

In this way, equality becomes not a boast, but a challenge. A demand. A daily test.

IX. The Cost of Inequality

Why does inequality persist, even in a nation that claims to reject it?

The answer is complex, but history shows us that:

• Economic power resists redistribution
• Social prejudice becomes embedded in systems and institutions
• Political actors exploit fear and division to maintain hierarchies

But there is also something else: a reluctance to admit the gap between myth and reality. The American self-image is so invested in the ideal of equality that acknowledging systemic inequality feels threatening.

Yet as Douglass argued, honesty is not disloyalty. It is the only way forward.

X. Equality and the Future

What does equality mean today? It must mean more than equal access to law. It must mean equal dignity, safety, voice, and opportunity.

The principle of equality must confront:

• Economic injustice
• Racialized policing
• Healthcare disparities
• Educational inequities
• Gender and sexual orientation discrimination
• Barriers to voting and representation

Equality is not an abstraction. It is a matter of policy, power, and practice. It shows up in courtrooms, classrooms, workplaces, and ballot boxes.

XI. Holding the Nation to Its Word

Douglass asked:

“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?”

King asked:

“When will you be satisfied?”

Hughes asked:

“What happens to a dream deferred?”

Each question pushes us toward the same conclusion: the promise of equality is only meaningful if it is realized in the lives of all people.

XII. Conclusion: Equality as the Measure of the Republic

The principle of equality is the moral measure of any society that claims to be democratic.

In the Declaration of Independence, that measure was set in the highest terms: self-evident, unalienable, universal.

To fall short is human. To ignore the failure is immoral. To struggle toward fulfillment is patriotic.

Douglass, King, and Hughes each insisted that America can and must do better. They saw equality not as a gift to be granted, but a right to be recognized.

Their voices remind us: the words “all men are created equal” are not hollow unless we leave them so.

They are, as Douglass called them, saving principles—if we dare to make them true.

Footnote:

A significant attribution must be given to an important resource and research partner. Without the services of the AI app ‘Chat GPT’, this essay series would have been much more challenging to develop. I depended on the powerful capacity of “Chat” to help unravel and bring clarity to a project that would have added many more hours to not just gather the perspectives of Douglass, MLK, and Hughes regarding the Declaration in the first place, but then to put together the nuances, context, and content in an orderly and understandable manner.

I was able to put aside any reservations I may have had about the accuracy of Chat’s research based on my own familiarity with the writings of the three authors as well as the Declaration of Independence. Additionally, my personal life experiences regarding racism and antiracism (meager as they might be in comparison to others) provided guidance that Chat’s conclusions were on the mark and coherent. This all said, I would appreciate any comments or questions you may have regarding any of the essays.

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