What they wrote: “all men”
What they meant: “all white, land owning men, and no women of any ethnicity”Initially only white male landowners or of sufficient wealth had voting privileges, and voting eligibility was determined by state law. The nineteenth amendment later insured women’s right to vote. It has been interpreted that Thomas Jefferson was referring to the whole species of mankind (all human beings) when stating “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” However, this passage of the Declaration of Independence has been the subject of debate since it was written. Abraham Lincoln relied on this Declaration of Independence sentence when making the case that slavery went against the deepest commitments of the American nation; he depicted that the term “all men are created equal” meant all mankind regardless of race or gender.