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The quotation that is causing all this discussion is from the Declaration of Independence and goes like this:
"WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation."
"WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, 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..."
etc.
I don't think it's wise to take that statement out of context, as seems to happen so often. Remember that the founding fathers were rebelling against a rigidly stratified system in which certain people (royalty, nobility, aristocracy, whatever you want to call it) were actually held by law to be more worthy in the eyes of god than the commonfolk, and were therefore entitled to make whatever the hell laws they wanted, and to abuse the people as they saw fit. Say, taxing them heavily, raping their lands in the colonies and refusing to give them any say in the rules governing them.
Check out the first paragraph: "to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them." Couple that with the part AFTER the famous "all men are created equal" line: "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" and I think you start to get some of the context: just because you are born to a certain family, even a royal one, does not entitle you BY NATURE to any more or fewer RIGHTS than any other person. And if the British crown can't recognize that, then screw you, we're going to form our own country where everyone has at least the same basic standing under law.
I think the comma between the "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the creator" is significant - it's not that all men are literally created equal, but that they are created equally worthy of certain rights that are inalienable, that do not depend on station or even ability, but that are simply due to all humans by virtue of their humanity.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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