The body of Jefferson’s draft contained a list of grievances against the British crown, but it was its preamble to the Constitution that would strike the deepest chords in the minds and hearts of future Americans: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 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.” Adams requesting their corrections…I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress.” “We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident…” I consented I drew it but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. Still, it was he who was given the task of drafting the Declaration of Independence, which would become the foremost statement of human liberty and equality ever written.Īccording to an account Jefferson wrote in 1823, the other members of the committee “unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. Jefferson was the only southerner on the committee, and had arrived in Philadelphia accompanied by three of his many slaves. Livingston of New York–that was charged with drafting a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain. On June 11, Jefferson was appointed to a five-man committee–alongside John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R.
#Declaration of independence snap art free#
On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia formally presented a resolution before the Congress, stating that “hese United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” It became known as the Lee Resolution, or the resolution for independence. That same year, Jefferson began building Monticello, his hilltop estate in Albemarle County he would later greatly expand his holdings in land and slaves through his marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton in 1772.
In 1768, Jefferson stood as a candidate for the Virginia House of Burgesses he entered the legislature just as opposition was building to the taxation policies of the British government. Jefferson’s Early Careerīorn into one of the most prominent families in Virginia (on his mother’s side), Jefferson studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg and began practicing law in 1767. A member of a committee of five that also included John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Jefferson drew up a draft and included Franklin’s and Adams’ corrections. At the time, the Declaration of Independence was regarded as a collective effort of the Continental Congress Jefferson was not recognized as its principal author until the 1790s. The Men Who Signed the Declaration of IndependenceĪt the Second Continental Congress during the summer of 1776, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia was charged with drafting a formal statement justifying the 13 North American colonies’ break with Great Britain.“We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident…”.
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