Most of the leading actors felt the inconsistency of keeping some men in bondage, when they were fighting to rid themselves of a tyranny which, in comparison to the other, was a state of honorable freedom.

Their humanity condemned African slavery, and they earnestly desired its extinction.

The Declaration of Independence proves to how high a level the tide of freedom rose in the colonies.

The grand truths by it proclaimed the signers of that instrument did not restrict in their application to some men to the exclusion of other men.

They wrote "All men," and they meant exactly what they wrote.