A Louisiana lawmaker argued against a bill requiring public school students to recite excerpts from the Declaration of Independence because 'only Caucasians were free' at the time it was penned.

While the Declaration of Independence states 'all men are created equal', it took nearly a century later before the 15th amendment allowed men regardless of 'race, color, or previous condition of servitude' to vote.

Barbara Norton said it was 'unfair' to require children to recite the founding document, given it was written when slavery was still widespread.

Republican representative Valarie Hodges shelved the bill, which required public school students in grades four, five and six to recite a passage every day.

Barbara Norton (left) argued against a bill sponsored by Valarie Hodges (right) that would require students between the fourth and sixth grades to recite passage from the Declaration of Independence every day

During a debate in the Louisiana House of Representatives, Norton said: 'For the Declaration of Independence only Caucasians were free.

'And for you to bring a bill to require that our children will recite the Declaration of Independence, I think it's a little bit unfair.'

She suggested the founding fathers were hypocritical and said it was unfair 'to ask those children to recite something that's not the truth'.

According to the Advocate, the bill would have required students between the fourth and sixth grades to recite the passage: '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.

'That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'

Norton and another representative Patricia Haynes Smith, also argued against the bill since it bears resemblance to the literacy tests used to disenfranchise black people during the Jim Crow era.

In some cases, voters would be asked to read or recite the entirety of the Declaration of Independence before they were allowed to vote.

Other lawmakers added amendments, suggesting students recite from various historical texts, from Martin Luther King Jr's 'I have a dream' speech to the 14th amendment.

Hodges called the amendments 'poison pills', according to the Advocate.

Norton and another representative Patricia Haynes Smith, also argued against the bill since it bears resemblance to the literacy tests used to disenfranchise black people during the Jim Crow era

Although Hodges backed down and shelved the bill, she told KTAL-TV: 'They really just don't get it and to me I really feel that it's as important as math and English and conjugating verbs.'

She also expressed her shock 'at the hatred that was expressed at the forefathers and this document' during the debate.

House Speaker Taylor Barras had to step in and mediate the increasingly heated exchange between Norton and Hodges, while three others proposed additional historical texts for students to recite, NOLA.com reported.

Fox News reported that Norton argued that America’s founding document was racist.

'It is outrageous that our ELECTED OFFICIALS are unable to discern the difference between a statement of TRUTH... and past behavior!!!” a blog post on a Greater New Orleans Tea Party forum reads.