NARRATOR: On July 4 of 1776, the Colonies published a formal declaration of their independence from Britain and at the heart of their argument lay the assertion that all men are created equal.

COLIN POWELL: And in just a few words, it captures the essence: inalienable rights—rights not given to you by the state but given to you by God. "We hold these truths to be self-evident." In other words, don't try to... you don't have to prove them. It's self-evident. Why is it self-evident? It came from God. They're inalienable. Government secures them. Remarkable document. Didn't apply to Black folks.

NARRATOR: The principal author was a 33-year-old Virginian named Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson sought to define a distinctly American view of freedom. Yet, at the time he wrote the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson held title to 202 human beings as his own personal property. While he wrote the very words "all men are created equal," a slave named Bob Hemings waited nearby to attend to Jefferson's every need.

COLIN POWELL: Thomas Jefferson kept slaves. But Thomas Jefferson nevertheless wrote those marvelous words and he understood the... the inconsistency of this all, because he also wrote sometime later to a friend, "If there is a just God, we're going to pay for this."

NARRATOR: With his pen, Jefferson helped create the intellectual foundation of American liberty. Through his slave dealings, he would violate those principles almost every day of his life.