Big Arnold on your bike...

We are still wresting with the Declaration and now the Constitution. One of the questions today was, does the 'all' in 'all men are created equal' mean all or just white property owning males? What did the framers mean? What did Jefferson himself mean. In great Socratic form, Dr. Morel led us through the Declaration as well as supporting documents in our exploration of "all". We ended by returning to the Declaration but this time the draft by Jefferson. The simple answer is, "all does mean all". Jefferson is more than aware of the contridiction as a slaveholder but all mean all. Slaves, women, children, ... all. To support this point, he introduced us to Big Arnold. You've bought a new bike. You love the bike but you forget to lock it one day. You come outside to see Big Arnold on the bike. You want the bike and youtry to get the bike but he is BIG Arnold. So the question is: is the bike still yours?
The picture is from our tour of the National Constitution Center. It's me and my BFF, James Madison: