Paper Topic:

Gettysberg Address

All Men are Created Equal

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent , a new nation , conceived in Liberty , and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal ' thus President Abraham Lincoln began his landmark Gettysburg speech . The premise of All men are created equal ' underpins the concepts of liberty and democracy in our modern world . Today the idea of All men are created equal ' which was originally enshrined in the American Declaration of Independence , is often used in the sense of All men are

equal ' It has generally become a pretext to demand equal rights and equal treatment for all persons like . For example , a lazy tramp on the streets may console himself thinking that there is essentially not much of a difference between himself and the millionaire businessman living around the corner . He may even be consternated at the fact that people show respect to the millionaire and not to him , and may consider such a state of affairs to be unfair : since all men are equal , no person should be given privilege and consideration over and above any other . Ironically , the notion that serves as a foundation for the principles of liberty and democracy , and which President Lincoln used to undermine the rationale for slavery , thus becomes more like a basis for communism which seeks to abolish all differences between people . But people are different from one another , some have relatively superior capabilities and others have relatively inferior characteristics , otherwise , for instance why would there be job interviews , since any person is equal to any other , there is no need to choose one against other

All men are created equal ' simply means by and large there are no inherent and intrinsic differences between men , as well as between men and women , which would make one presumably superior to another in moral and spiritual status . However everyone is different from one another , in terms of practical considerations these differences must be respected and depending upon the situations , even encouraged . All men are created equal ' is a powerful truth . But like most other truths it is liable to be misinterpreted , misunderstood and misused . A liberal democracy should thrive not because there are no obvious differences between people , but mostly because of them , and sometimes in spite of them...

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