The
Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull (Capitol mural,
Washington D.C.)
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More
Information
The
Declaration of Independence and other Great Documents
Primary
Sources
Declaration
of Independence
Lee
Resolution for Independence
Jefferson's
Rough Draft |
One
result of the Second Continental Congress was the formal Declaration
of Independence signed on July 4, 1776.
The
committee created by the Second Continental Congress to write
the Declaration consisted of two New England men, John Adams
of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut; two men
from the Middle Colonies, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania
and Robert R. Livingston of New York; and one southerner,
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Jefferson took on the task to
write the declaration, though he thought Franklin should do
it. Franklin declined, but did make a few changes to the document.
The Congress would not approve the declaration until the clause
calling for an end to the slave trade was deleted.
John
Adams knew that the signing would be commemorated and celebrated
year after year. And he was right. The 4th of July, not the
date of British surrender, became America's "Independence
Day." |
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Thomas
Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration, wrote later
(1823) - that the other members of the committee "unanimously
pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. I consented;
I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee I communicated
it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their
corrections. . . I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to
the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress."
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The
Declaration of Independence |
| The
Lee
Resolution for Independence was signed on July
2nd, 1776. The signing of the Declaration
of Independence followed on July 4. Many changes
were made from Jefferson's
Rough Draft, changes which Jefferson was critical
of. He was particularly unhappy about the deletion of a passage
attributing responsibility for the slave trade to King George.
Richard
Henry Lee consoled Jefferson on the changes to his draft:
"I
wish sincerely, as well for the honor of Congress, as for
that of the States, that the Manuscript had not been mangled
as it is. It is wonderful, and passing pitiful, that the rage
of change should be so unhappily applied. However the Thing
is in its nature so good, that no Cookery can spoil the Dish
for the palates of Freemen."
Part
of These United Colonies: The American
War of Independence exhibit |
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