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Thomas Jefferson reluctantly agreed to write the Declaration of Independence.
Pictured below are the first and fourth (final) pages of his rough draft. It includes changes given to him verbally by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. They made 48 changes. Then, the document was presented to the Congress. Jefferson sat in embarrassed silence as the delegates cut about one-fourth of his document, including a passage about slavery. Jefferson was a slaveholder from the South. But he disapproved of the slave trade, which he blamed on King George. However, other Southern delegates demanded the passage be taken out.
◀ Jefferson drew on many sources for his ideas about liberty and independence, including Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. The Declaration of Independence has three main parts. The first describes the basic rights of citizens. The second tells why the colonies are angry with the king. The third says that the colonies are breaking all ties with Britain to become the United States of America. Jefferson is pictured here working at the writing desk he designed himself.
