Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

[Igel]

8. It's been pointed out that just applying "all men are created equal"

to just white men was a radical statement.

This was a world in which family and social status was determinative, there was royalty, lots of poor whites without property that were considered less and without the same rights as others, not to mention indentured servants that may have been "bought" for a certain period of time but often were then commanded to continue to work after their servitude expired because *then* they had to work off the debt of their food and board for the time of their servitude. Most of that was confined to the cities--out in the countryside things were less stratified.