Simone Sutton

9/14/09

AP English III

“Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence”

This article begins with an excerpt from Thomas Jefferson’s autobiography, during a point before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He speaks of how the colonies are not exactly ready to secede from England but they are going to anyway, and then he wrote the Declaration of Independence himself. The committee that would eventually vote on The Declaration of Independence asked him to do so. He also speaks about they were going to avoid the issue of slavery entirely because the southern colonies relied heavily upon slave labor to maintain their livelihood At first not one of the colonies voted for the Declaration of Independence, they all voted against it, but after about a week of deliberations all thirteen of the colonies finally agreed on it.

But it was not perfected; they didn’t want to offend any people of the British persuasion who still might support them so they omitted many phrases and proofread the declaration before everyone signed it.

The declaration itself is a beautifully written document that still manages to make a point. It stated that the British colonies in America are the United Stated of America. They made it clear from the beginning that they were separating themselves from the mother land, and they were going to tell them why.

The Declaration of Independence talks about how “all men are created equal”, and that we all have the inalienable rights of “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. This is ironic considering the fact that Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, owned slaves himself. This fact however; does not lessen the importance or truth of those word just the man who wrote them.

The Declaration is like an essay that is explaining what America means to do, what they are doing it and, how they plan on achieving that goal. The people have the right to abolish a government that infringes upon their rights.

There is a long list of wrongs that King George III had done to the colonies and the Declaration elaborates on all of the points. How King George was all-around, oppressive, unfair and unreasonable. How he controlled their government and judicial system for no reason, taxation, forcing people to house soldiers during times of war and peace, cutting of trade, and the list goes on and on and on.

The declaration of Independence ends firmly and clearly that America cuts its ties with England and is its own independent nation with all of the powers rights and privileges of any other country of the time.