Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality

Allen presents the Declaration as a key work of political philosophy since it poses the question, “[A]re we living well, this group of people to which I somehow belong?” (107). She notes that many people might consider the declaration’s claim that all people are equal to be absurd because they assume equal means “the same,” and it is obvious that not all people are equally rich or intelligent. She therefore argues that the Declaration must mean something else by “equality”—“an equivalent degree of some quality or attribute” (107). Freedom seems equally confusing since we are all bound by laws and constrained by our material circumstances and may feel that politics doesn’t truly free us. 

Allen suggests that the Declaration’s vision of equality is “when neither of two parties can dominate the other” (107). Its other attributes consist of “egalitarian development of collective intelligence,” “reciprocity” in citizen relationships with each other, and a sense that we are “co-creating our common world” (108-9). However, even before it lays out this vision, the Declaration shows us how people make decisions about their lives.