We the People The Declaration of Independence and the Push for Racial Equality
Feb 5, 2026
Melvin Rogers, historian of African American political thought, and Lucas Morel, scholar of American political theory, discuss how the Declaration's language has been used by figures from Prince Hall to Martin Luther King Jr. They explore early abolitionist petitions, fiery calls for self-liberation, Lincoln’s reframing of the founding, Reconstruction’s legal turn, and civil rights appeals to equality and voting.
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Declaration's Core Political Principles
- The Declaration centers equality, natural rights, and government that secures them by consent.
- Lucas Morel emphasizes the right to alter or abolish government when it fails to secure those rights.
We Hold As An Ongoing Call
- Melvin Rogers reads "we hold" as an ongoing moral commitment rather than a static claim.
- He argues African-Americans used that language to prod the nation toward its professed values.
Lemuel Haynes' Early Appeal
- Lemuel Haynes, a mixed‑race minister, wrote Liberty Further Extended and prefaced it with the Declaration's line.
- He used both biblical and Enlightenment language to demand abolition and accountability from whites.
