The declaration of independence talks about all men being created equal and having certain protected rights some colonists believed that this idea did not apply to whom

Wasn't like back then colored people were treated unfairly, but yet the declaration of independence didn't change the way those people were treated until Martin Luther king who changed the prospective of millions that saw the world in a cruel and unfair way towards colored people at least it changed most of their perspectives. Today there are still people who thinks colored people are the "bad guys" etc. Now reading this doesn't make sense another opinion is that the declaration of independence was supposed to change a lot of things meaning becoming equal for men and women but women couldn't do things men could do for example like they couldn't vote, for their rights they did most of the work etc. now i don't know why I put Martin Luther king in the answer but ‍eh this is what I can think of I'm pretty stupid but I hope this helps in some way. the rights didn't apply to women and going further back didn't apply to colored people. (I have nothing against colored by the way I'm mixed so dont come for me lol)