re: What did Jefferson mean by "all men are created equal"?

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Jefferson was heavily influenced by Scottish moral philosophy, all men were equal in the moral sense which is what they meant by "in the eyes of God" That all men are capable of understanding the common good and capable of self-government.

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Just curious what your source is on this?

Wills' book attributes much of Jefferson's philosophy to the writings of Adams and Hutchinson (both prominent Scottish Moral Philosophers). However, many scholars critique Wills' book in that he goes too far in attributing most of Jefferson's philosophy to the Scotts as opposed to Locke's Treatise on Government.

Of course, David Barton attributes Jefferson's position to Scottish Moral Philosophy, but Barton as been completely discredited at this point. Not only were Barton's sources about the use of Scottish Moral Philosophy incorrect, but he failed to adequately explain what Scottish Moral Philosophy actually says.

so how much of your money did they take when they had control of the exec & legislative branches?

I bet your taxes actually went down.

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I always interpreted that phrase to mean we all start with a blank state at birth....

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This ^

People are not focusing on the very crucial qualifier in the phrase. He didn't say "all men are equal." He purposely said "created" equal. He was basically saying, as mentioned above, we start equal and then life plays out. No individual,religious institution or government should infringe upon a human's right to success nor should they be held to blame for their failure. It was an ideal for a budding nation......one,however, that his own practices could not measure up to in the age in which he endorsed it.