People are often guilty of projecting backward today's meanings onto words spoken/written long ago; sometimes out of thoughtlessness, sometimes to support a point. This has been done in the past to support a political agenda, too; thus contributing to the evolution in meaning which we then oftimes project back on to the original meaning.

Take the phrase "all men are created equal" for example.

In today's world, the use of the word "men" in such a context implies all human beings, including all races and even all women. It took quite a bit of time and historical happenings for the phrase to evolve to that meaning.

I don't think that's what Thomas Jefferson meant when he originally penned it, though. The majority of the signers of the DoI would not have thought it meant all races of men just as it certainly would not have included females of any race at all.

Just musing on historical perspective this a.m.,
Penny