"Mr. PETTIT. The Senator said that the language of the Declaration of Independence is, that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created free and equal." That is a total misrecital of the Declaration. There is no such word in that connection as "free." Mr. Jefferson would himself have known, at the first sight, that there was no color of truth in it. He, himself a slaveholder, surrounded by slaveholders all his life, as far back as he could recollect, and to continue so through his life as far as he could imagine, would have seen that upon its face it would be a direct falsehood. The language does not contain the word free. It is precisely this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." To that I have taken issue."
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Lawyers from the United StatesPeople from IndianaMembers of the United States House of Representatives
Original Language: English
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From the Congressional Record, (3 March 1854), The Congressional Globe, Volume 23, page 310
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Pettit
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John Pettit
John Pettit (June 24, 1807 – January 17, 1877) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician. A United States Representative and Senator from Indiana, he also served in the court systems of Indiana and Kansas.
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