tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post2952065552916387659..comments2024-03-29T03:57:26.974-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: West's Founding IVGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-79157215092449024582021-08-02T12:04:18.031-04:002021-08-02T12:04:18.031-04:00That’s another plausible argument about what the p...That’s another plausible argument about what the phrase meant. Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-90978022776924610592021-08-02T05:07:42.687-04:002021-08-02T05:07:42.687-04:00I find M. E. Bradford’s argument that what Jeffers...I find M. E. Bradford’s argument that what Jefferson meant, and what most colonists understood, by the Phase “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” was the common law doctrine that all citizens were equal before the law. Obviously, Jefferson, a slaveholding member of his state’s ruling class, did not believe that all men were equal in all respects. Some men are smarter than others, some exercise more virtuous discipline than others, some more responsible. <br /><br />Jefferson was referring to the Anglo-American understanding that the same law applied to governors and governed alike. He was not making some metaphysical claim to universal equality.<br />Joel Leggetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16588696436907032078noreply@blogger.com