Was slavery included in the Declaration of Independence? What isn’t widely known, however, is that Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, in an early version of the Declaration, drafted a 168-word passage that condemned slavery as one of the many evils foisted upon the colonies by the British crown. This is the text of the deleted Declaration of Independence clause: “He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their The entire paragraph on slavery and the slave trade was deleted by Congress sitting in the Committee of the Whole on July 3–4, 1776. In June 1776, the United States and Britain had been at war for over a year, and the Second Continental Congress was nearing agreement to issue a formal declaration of independence. The deletion of the anti-slavery clause of the Declaration meant that slavery endured in the newly independent United States of America, as the number of enslaved people in the South grew to the The anti-slavery clause in Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence, 1776. In June 1776, the United States and Britain had been at war for over a year, and the Second Continental Congress was nearing agreement to issue a formal declaration of independence. The latest installment of Information School professor Joe Janes’ podcast series Documents that Changed the World discusses the 168 powerful words condemning slavery that were removed from the Declaration of Independence. The anti-slavery clause in Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence, 1776. In June 1776, the United States and Britain had been at war for over a year, and the Second Continental Congress was nearing agreement to issue a formal declaration of independence. Of all his writings, Thomas Jefferson's most famous and far-reaching was undoubtedly his draft of the Declaration of Independence. Although the issue of slavery was widely debated -- both the Although the Declaration of Independence contains the words: "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" there was a contradiction to those words at the time they were first written. The deleted slave-trade clause in Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence, 1776 * In June 1776, the United States and Britain had been at war for over a year, and the Second Continental Congress was nearing agreement to issue a formal declaration of independence. A com- When Thomas Jefferson included a passage attacking slavery in his draft of the Declaration of Independence, it initiated the most intense debate among the delegates gathered at Philadelphia in the spring and early summer of 1776. Thomas Jefferson's early draft of the Declaration of Independence included a notable paragraph, attacking King George III for allowing the Transatlantic Slave Trade to continue. Why Was the Declaration’s Anti-Slavery Passage Removed? Thomas Jefferson reading the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence to Benjamin Franklin. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images History / Benjamin Franklin, Declaration of Independence, John Adams, Slavery, Slavery Clause, Thomas Jefferson / September 8, 2021 / By Donna Kiritharan Who would’ve thought that removing a single passage from the Declaration of Independence could have changed the evolution of historical events? The deleted slavery passage from the Declaration of Independence had powerful and far-reaching consequences. Learn more about this decision and its impact. Excerpts from The Declaration of Independence, 1776 : Annotations In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the What isn’t widely known, however, is that Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, in an early version of the Declaration, drafted a 168-word passage that condemned slavery as one of the many evils The Lost Clause: Reinterpreting the Declaration’s Silence on the Atlantic Slave Trade Robinson Woodward-Burns, Howard University Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence condemned King George III for maintaining the international slave trade. The clause denounced the “execrable trade” for Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence condemned King George III for maintaining the international slave trade. The clause denounced the “execrable trade” for violating enslaved people’s “rights of life & liberty,” thus alienating slave-trading congressional delegates, who forced Jefferson to cut the clause. Generations of scholars have mourned this deletion
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