Penned at the birth of our nation 250 years ago, “All men are created equal” remains one of the most consequential phrases ever written. Five simple yet momentous words in the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776, profoundly remade the world and ushered in an unequaled explosion of freedom and prosperity. If you believe that all men — that is, all people — are created equal, you share the fundamental idea of America and its founders. Everything that makes America great flows from “all men are created equal.”
Created equal doesn’t mean created the same. We are all born with distinct attributes. We differ physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Knowing this, the founders defined “created equal” to mean we possess equal worth and equal rights that include the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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If we are equal, we are equal in rights, limited only where our actions infringe on the rights of others. If we possess an equal right to life, no one has the right to take a life. If we possess an equal right to liberty, no one has the right to infringe on the liberty of another. If we possess an equal right to pursue our own happiness, no one has the right to interfere with the pursuit of happiness of another.
These rights lead to the conclusion that no one has the right to force another to act against their will. As equals, we all have the right to be free from coercion in any guise. Thus, all interactions must be voluntary for all parties involved. We are free to orient our lives around voluntary exchanges with other people, which, in essence, is capitalism, the economic system centered on voluntary interactions.
Equality also demands private property. As equals, each of us alone gets to decide what to do with our abilities. If a baker bakes bread for himself, but he doesn’t have control of the bread because others take it by force, he is subservient and unequal. More broadly, if a person cannot control the fruits of their labor, they are a subject in an unequal society. To be free to possess the fruits of one’s labor is the freedom to possess private property. Therefore, if all men are created equal, the existence of private property logically follows.
By contrast, one cannot be a socialist and believe all people are created equal. Socialists infamously recite, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” and it is the ruling elite, elevated over the masses, who decide through force the abilities and needs of the masses. Every time it is implemented, socialism invariably breeds resistance, which invariably leads to increasing governmental force, which invariably leads to suffering. This philosophy decrees no private property, not even in one’s own body, because one is commanded to take action according to one’s ability, and the result of that action is to be distributed to others deemed to need it by those in control.
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Equality requires free markets, and socialism requires inequality. Free markets lead to prosperity, and socialism leads to deprivation. You may act like a socialist in a capitalist society, but acting like a capitalist under socialism results in imprisonment or execution. Which system is more moral?
Two hundred fifty years ago, “all men are created equal” transformed the world. Prior to America, humanity was ruled. Whether by kings, dictators, or the mob, people everywhere were ruled by others. Not until “all men are created equal” was enshrined as the foundation of a nation were there people who ruled themselves within a country of equals. Such equality recognized the inherent dignity of the individual and established the moral underpinnings of the right to be free from force, to engage in voluntary transactions, and possess private property that, in turn, ushered in 250 years of unprecedented freedom and prosperity in America and the world.
Karl Dierenbach is a Colorado-based engineer and attorney. He has worked on national and local issues of personal liberty, including aiding Scott Atlas’s White House efforts, drafting a public health order unmasking thousands of Colorado children, and assisting Dr. Jay Bhattacharya in his Senate confirmation effort. Follow him on X @Dierenbach.