Taney had argued that the equality asserted in the Declaration of Independence was never intended to apply to black people. If this were true, Lincoln asked, what were the value of Jefferson’s words? Were “these truths” mere lies? Lincoln offered his own reading. “The assertion that ‘all men are created equal’ was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain,” he argued, “and it was placed in the Declaration, not for that, but for future use. Its authors meant it to be, thank God, it is now proving itself, a stumbling block to those who in after times might seek to turn a
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