By Phil Devlin
(June 28, 2026) — The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. It is instructive to examine the original version of the Declaration first presented by Thomas Jefferson (its author) to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. The gathered delegates in Philadelphia debated that first draft for two days before finally agreeing upon the final draft that became the Declaration that we know.
When I was teaching American literature to juniors locally in high school, the anthology that I used contained a full draft of the original Declaration and showed the final draft as well. This was an eye-opening experience for the students, as the original draft by Jefferson, to their surprise, contained powerful anti-slavery language, as strongly anti-slavery as I have ever seen. Here are some excerpts from the last few paragraphs in the original draft to prove the point:
“He (meaning King George III) 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 transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian (emphasis mine and to be said with biting sarcasm) king of Great Britain.”
Shortly after this statement in the original draft of the Declaration, Jefferson references the fact that the thirteen colonies under the rule of the English king were not allowed to take any action to abolish slavery (or anything else for that matter) without his permission, something the king refused to grant to colonies that attempted to do so while under colonial rule, saying that the king was “suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce [determining to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold]: and that this assemblage of horrors might … not die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he had deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.”
The italics in the previous paragraph are mine, designed to call the reader’s attention to the very powerful anti-slavery language used by Thomas Jefferson. Both paragraphs quoted here– as well as other more implied anti-slavery language in the original Declaration– were deleted from the final version of the Declaration of Independence, because of passionate objections voiced by delegates of two southern colonies, South Carolina and Georgia. Thus, about 25% of Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration unveiled on June 28, 1776 was deleted.
Jefferson was not happy about these deletions; however, recognizing the need for the colonies to be united in their imminent war with England, he did not pack up in a “my way or the highway” huff and go back to Monticello; instead, he decided that once independence had been secured, the country could and should re-visit the issue of slavery. This is what is called pragmatic idealism: get what you can at this political moment and then work for change in the future. Let’s not forget that the key sentence often quoted by those calling for racial equity —“All Men are created equal”—was allowed to remain in the document.
Opposing the institution of slavery was a consistent theme throughout Jefferson’s entire life, not just at the time he wrote the Declaration. This view should be regarded as extraordinary in a time when slave labor was the norm throughout most of the world. As a young Virginia representative in the House of Burgesses, he had drafted a law in 1769 to prohibit Virginia from importing slaves. It failed to pass. Later, in 1784, he proposed a law to prohibit slavery in the Northwest Territory. That failed by one vote but was later revived by George Washington and passed early in his administration; furthermore, Jefferson advocated for Virginians to cultivate crops such as wheat, rice, and grapes which, unlike tobacco, were not so heavily dependent upon manual labor.
As President, Jefferson asked Congress in 1806 to pass a law to make the importation of slaves from foreign countries a crime and to “withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights … which the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of our country have long been eager to proscribe.” Congress did just that. On March 2, 1807, Thomas Jefferson signed that law. That law and the Louisiana Purchase are considered by many to be the two most significant achievements of the Jeffersonian presidency: one more step taken on the road to ending slavery.
Images above in the public domain, provided by Phil Devlin
