All Men Created Equal America has undergone incredible hardships as a nation. No issue has had more impact on the development of the American definition of freedom than the issue of slavery. Did the Constitution specify which men were created equal? Surprisingly enough the phrase "all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights" did not mean what it does today. The nation was divided on the issue of slavery and the rights of the black man in its early stages as a growing republic. Abraham Lincoln was a brave pioneer who dared to rub his hand against the grain of slavery bringing the original ideals of America's founders to a new light.