Thomas Jefferson stated

"We hold these truths to be self _ that all men are created equal."

The second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence starts as follows: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

This was in the decl; aration of indepedndencce