OPINION:
Thomas Jefferson, born April 13, 1743, was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence first because he was a Virginian and second because he was a skilled writer. Virginia was the most populous colony, but precipitating revolution events such as Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill, the siege of Boston and the capture of Fort Ticonderoga happened in the North. Virginia would cement an alliance by bringing Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia with it.
When Jefferson wrote the Declaration, he suffered painfully as the Congress remade his work. His draft at 1,704 words was 366 words longer than the final. Congress added 253 words and removed or rephrased 792 words, thereby transforming over 60% of his work. Among passages removed was a section complaining that the mercantile system, imposed on the colonies by commercial charter, mandated the importation of slaves to the New World.
Britain had forbidden the colonies’ two attempts to abolish slavery, but between the start of the Revolution War and the writing of the Constitution, six of 13 colonies freed slaves. The philosophical doctrines consulted for the Declaration and Constitution placed master and slave on the same plain of existence, thereby dooming the institution of slavery.
Decisions to denigrate Thomas Jefferson in historical accounts are examples of contrafactual analysis supporting newly popular morality. We remember Martin Luther King Jr. for his achievements as a civil rights leader, not for adultery. Recognizing Jefferson commemorates his writing of the Declaration of Independence, not his slave ownership.
NOLAN NELSON
Redmond, Oregon
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