This is, to be clear, not entirely obvious. To declare, as the Declaration of Independence does, that all men are created equal in their rights seems incredibly counterintuitive. After all, we may all be human beings subject to similar dictates of human nature, but we are deeply unequal in a variety of other ways: some of us are smart, some foolish; some tall, some short; some athletic, some nerds. So how could the founders suggest that it is a self-evident truth that all men are created equal in our rights?
