All Men Are Created Equal Summary

The author Stephen E. Ambrose has written several books concerning different people and events in United States history. Upon reflection he realized contradictions in some of the subjects he covered. That included our founding fathers which largely helped shape America with their different ideas and philosophies. Now much of the modern western world’s government and political structures are modeled after those very ideas.

Thomas Jefferson has one of the most famous and profound quotes in history, “All men are created equal” having an effect even today on people that feel that they do not have equal opportunities as other people in society. He was also very intelligent, well read, and Christianity was important in his life. Along with George Washington who most regarded as having great morals and character. Their actions towards African American slaves, the mishandling of American Indians, and lastly women’s rights simply can not be ignored.

These seemingly great men had done things which today would be vile and repugnant in today’s society. At the same time they set up the foundation for our country, that many many people look at in the past and today as a moral compass for the rest of the world. In Hong Kong recently there have been pro-democracy protesters that feel that …show more content…
Ambrose was asked to participate in a panel discussion about political correctness at the University of Wisconsin, a professor stated that given a choice of only being able to assign two or three books a semester that she had chosen to drop Thomas Jefferson’s writings from the reading list because of some of his transgressions. Ambrose seems to disagree with the notion of not covering Thomas Jefferson because of those transgressions, because of all of the other things Jefferson did that were integral to our countries’ history. In some ways it is akin to Germany ignoring Adolf Hitler because of what he was responsible for, or because of contradictions that his actions