Congress debated the issue of independence for a whole year following the first shots fired in the Revolution. Thomas Jefferson was appointed by the Second Continental Congress to be part of a “Committee of Five”, which would draft the declaration after the delegates agreed that independence was the right choice. Benjamin Franklin Roger Sherman Robert Livingston were also members of this committee. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was finally published by Congress on July 4, 1776, after the Second Continental Congress had agreed to independence.
The Declaration stated that all men are created equally and that their Creator has endowed them with unalienable human rights. The Declaration calls the King Great Britain a dictator and lists the “abuses & usurpations” of the British government and the King. The Declaration of Independence concludes with a declaration declaring that the colonies are independent and free states.
Historians analyzed the events, people, and documents which influenced the Declaration of Independence. Carl Becker as well as many other historians claim that John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government was the source of Jefferson’s government idea. Locke’s philosophical outlook asserted that government was fundamentally a deal between individuals founded on the principle that humans are naturally free. People have created governments because of the fact that some individuals break “laws in nature”. Richard Henry Lee, Jefferson’s former colleague, said that Jefferson “copied Locke’s government treatise” when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Historian Garry Wills said that Jefferson attributed more importance to the writings by Francis Hutcheson than Locke.
Joseph Ellis, biographer of Virginia’s history, said that the new constitution of Virginia had influenced both the Declaration of Independence and its Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had been informed by messengers that Virginia adopted a preamble authored by George Mason as part of its state Constitution. Mason wrote “All people are born equal, free, independent and with certain natural and inherent rights. Among these are the right to enjoy life and freedom, possess and acquire property, pursue happiness, and find safety”. Jefferson received the words of this Declaration a little over a week prior to writing it.
Historian Pauline Maier has noted that it was not only the Continental Congress which issued a Declaration Of Independence. At least 90 other declarations were made by town meetings or gatherings such as militias and workers. Like the Declaration of the Congress, local and state resolutions also listed grievances. It focused, however, on events that were not included in the “long line of abuses” by the Congress. These include the king’s disregard for petitions as well as the deaths at Lexington and Concord.
Slavery also impacted the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson acknowledges in the rough draft of his Declaration of Independence that slavery is a violation of human rights such as life and freedom and he was aware of how it would contradict the statement that “all people are created equally”. Jefferson, however, blames slavery on the king in his rough draft because the king had banned tariffs that limited the importation. Jefferson also accused king of releasing slaves as the Governor Virginia had promised freedom to all slaves that would abandon their masters and fight for king. Jefferson’s passages on slavery and the “excitement of domestic insurrections,” however, did appear in the final document.
Influences from documents, people, and events were used to write the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson was influenced by philosophers like John Locke and Francis Hutcheson, who shaped his view of government and unalienable human rights. The Declaration of Independence lists “abuses, usurpations”, which were influenced by the slavery as well as the events that led up to it.
