The Evolution Of Inequality In The U.S. Legal System

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The Evolution of Inequality in the U.S. Legal System

N. LeVan

In the United States, true equality has never existed. From the Declaration of Independence to modern times, the U.S. legal system has failed in any attempt at equality. The ideology of "all [men] are equal but some [men] are more equal than others" has been present throughout the history of the U.S. (Orwell). Inequality has always existed in the United States legal system and continues to exist today; however, the inequality presently in the system is not as blatant as what it once was, but the system has come to depend on inequality.

Since the very beginning of a legal system in the United States, there has been inequality. The Declaration of Independence declared that "…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…"(Jefferson). The reality of the Declaration of Independence was that all free, white, landowning men are created equal. Slavery continued in the U.S. for nearly ninety years after the Declaration, and black Americans still feel the sting of inequality. Women were also left out of "…all men are created equal…." The implied meaning of the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence is what the U.S. legal system has strived for and failed to grasp fully.

After the establishment of independence in the United States, the development of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights ensued. The Bill of Rights was to establish the basic rights of every c...

Submitted by: 4freeessays
Date Submitted: 05-03-99 4:04pm
Category: Politics
Words: 1989
Pages: 7.96