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So today I want to talk to you about what I'm going to call the American Proposition.

Now, in America, we have freedom of religion, but in a way we do have a shared creed,

at least a widely held creed.

And that is expressed most eloquently

in the Declaration of Independence. So I'm sure many of you, if not all of you, know the words by heart.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their

creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life,

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I'm sure you've heard these words a hundred times.

What I want to do today is look at that proposition and not even look at the whole thing. We don't have

time to go over the whole thing. I want to focus like a laser beam on just one part of it. All men

are created equal, Dowd with their creator by, with the Nial and the board rights. All men. What does

that phrase mean? And among scholars, there's basically a dispute. There's a disagreement about what

that phrase all men means. And so on the one hand, there's basically a dispute. There's a disagreement about what that phrase all men means.

And so on the one hand, there are some people like John Meacham, who said in his book, Thomas

Jefferson, the art of power, that Thomas Jefferson, quote, basically meant all white men,

especially property property ones.

And in this book, America declares independence, the famous Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz

endorses this exclusive interpretation. So I'll refer to the exclusive interpretation of all men and the inclusive interpretation.

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