Thomas Jefferson was only 33 years old when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. He began June June 11, 1776. The Committee of five made a few revisions and the entire document was presented to the Continental Congress July 2, 1776. They voted for independence and made a few more revisions before releasing the Declaration of Independence to be read to the colonies. It was read from town to town for the benefit of those who could not read.
The Declaration of Independence stands as America’s most noble document. It defines the very essence of the spirit of America. In 1822, John Adams wrote a response to Timothy Pickering who had asked a number of questions about the writing of the Declaration. It was published in 1850:
You inquire why so young a man as Mr. Jefferson was placed at the head of the committee for preparing a Declaration of Independence? I answer: It was the Frankfort advice, to place Virginia at the head of everything. Mr. Richard Henry Lee might be gone to Virginia, to his sick family, for aught I know, but that was not the reason of Mr. Jefferson’s appointment. There were three committees appointed at the same time, one for the Declaration of Independence, another for preparing articles of confederation, and another for preparing a treaty to be proposed to France. Mr. Lee was chosen for the Committee of Confederation, and it was not thought convenient that the same person should be upon both. Mr. Jefferson came into Congress in June, 1775, and brought with him a reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent of composition. Writings of his were handed about, remarkable for the peculiar felicity of expression. Though a silent member in Congress, he was so prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive upon committees and in conversation – not even Samuel Adams was more so – that he soon seized upon my heart; and upon this occasion I gave him my vote, and did all in my power to procure the votes of others. I think he had one more vote than any other, and that placed him at the head of the committee. I had the next highest number, and that placed me the second. The committee met, discussed the subject, and then appointed Mr. Jefferson and me to make the draft, I suppose because we were the two first on the list.
The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me to make the draft. I said, ‘I will not,’ ‘You should do it.’ ‘Oh! no.’ ‘Why will you not? You ought to do it.’ ‘I will not.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Reasons enough.’ ‘What can be your reasons?’ ‘Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can.’ ‘Well,’ said Jefferson, ‘if you are decided, I will do as well as I can.’ ‘Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting.’
A meeting we accordingly had, and conned the paper over. I was delighted with its high tone and the flights of oratory with which it abounded, especially that concerning Negro slavery, which, though I knew his Southern brethren would never suffer to pass in Congress, I certainly never would oppose. There were other expressions which I would not have inserted if I had drawn it up, particularly that which called the King tyrant. I thought this too personal, for I never believed George to be a tyrant in disposition and in nature; I always believed him to be deceived by his courtiers on both sides of the Atlantic, and in his official capacity, only, cruel. I thought the expression too passionate, and too much like scolding, for so grave and solemn a document; but as Franklin and Sherman were to inspect it afterwards, I thought it would not become me to strike it out. I consented to report it, and do not now remember that I made or suggested a single alteration.
We reported it to the committee of five. It was read, and I do not remember that Franklin or Sherman criticized anything. We were all in haste. Congress was impatient, and the instrument was reported, as I believe, in Jefferson’s handwriting, as he first drew it. Congress cut off about a quarter of it, as I expected they would; but they obliterated some of the best of it, and left all that was exceptionable, if anything in it was. I have long wondered that the original draft had not been published. I suppose the reason is the vehement philippic against Negro slavery.
As you justly observe, there is not an idea in it but what had been hackneyed in Congress for two years before. The substance of it is contained in the declaration of rights and the violation of those rights in the Journals of Congress in 1774. Indeed, the essence of it is contained in a pamphlet, voted and printed by the town of Boston, before the first Congress met, composed by James Otis, as I suppose, in one of his lucid intervals, and pruned and polished by Samuel Adams.”
The Declaration of Independence was quite an accomplishment for such a young Virginian.
Thomas Jefferson wrote his own epitaph.
HERE WAS BURIED
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AUTHOR OF THE
DECLARATION
OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
OF THE
STATUTE OF VIRGINIA
FOR
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
AND FATHER OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
BORN APRIL 2, 1743
DIED JULY 4. 1826
He was only 33 and it was over 200 years ago……none of it could possibly be relevant today. Clearly, our current politicians know more than this ancient whipper-snapper!
Bwaaaaahahahahahahaha ancient whipper-snapper. How funny. T.J. and I are from the same ‘hood. I have heard him called many things but I think that is the funniest.
I expect Jefferson’s sophistication was fairly limited. He lived out in bum ____, Virginia, up on the side of a mountain. However, for his day, he was pretty slick. I wonder what his IQ would have been by today’s standards.
I’m saying that his intellect, however strong it was, did not benefit from all the things that make us more wise today. Examples: American Idol, Meatspin.com, Twitter, Truck Nutz (of course), and Al Gore. These misguided savages read books! Imagine how much more we know than poor T.J. with our advantages of the Huffington Post and Miley Cyrus!
Don’t you think they probably had their own versions of things like that? Definitely not as technologically advanced, but they spent their spare time talking about all sorts of trivial crap then too. Men like Jefferson had idle time on his hands. He put it to good use though with his inventions and his interests in European renaissance, philosophy, religion, he was just a …geek perhaps?
Maybe we are saying the same thing. My people didn’t have the time for such frivolities. They could read and write but I doubt if they had time for that much reading for pleasure and intellectual thinking. They had to work.
Colonial Idol. I’m sure they had their guilty pleasures, too. Witch burnings? I know that anachronistic….but kind of funny!
They shared an interest in stocks…though perhaps those of a diferent type.
Who was in the stocks or farm animals? @censored
M-h, I’m thinking of the ones miscreants were placed in such as those in Williamsburg. I suppose there’s an S&M element out there that still employs something similar. lol
Why U.S. is not a Christian nation
By Kenneth C. Davis, Special to CNN
July 4, 2011 9:10 a.m. EDT
While president in 1802, Jefferson wrote: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State … ”
As president, Jefferson was voicing an idea that was fundamental to his view of religion and government, expressed most significantly in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which he drafted in 1777.
Revised by James Madison and passed by Virginia’s legislature in January 1786, the bill stated: “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened (sic) in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief …”
It was this simple — government could not dictate how to pray, or that you cannot pray, or that you must pray.
Jefferson regarded this law so highly that he had his authorship of the statute made part of his epitaph, along with writing the Declaration and founding the University of Virginia. (Being president wasn’t worth a mention.)
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/04/davis.jefferson.other.words/index.html?hpt=hp_p1&iref=NS1
No doubt that Mr. Jefferson was a very wise man whose advice and counsel we must heed today, especially in matter of faith.
You gotta think and admire that a nation full to the brim with religious nut-jobs and gun-toters (OMG civilians had guns on the streets!!) went to war with the most powerful army and country on this planet over 5-10% taxes…
As a man I’ll admit I get a little moist around the eyes when I read this:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
God Bless America.
And of course, the next question naturally is, how does one avoid being charged with sedition if one wants to abolish it?
I guess the establishment clause is going to be one of those issues never solved. Why does that natural tendency exist to have one’s one religion THE religion?
Elena told me about an obnoxious experience she had over the weekend. I hope she will share it. I would like to hear other opinions.
@Moon-howler
That’s a very good question MH. Did you ever watch the mini-series John Adams? Loved it.
I would imagine that the Crown tried/convicted captured Colonials and sympathizers as seditionists.
@marin
yes, wasn’t t good? !! He was a very complex figure in history. Good contrast with Jefferson. I would love to see one on Jefferson. I guess no one wants to touch that with a ten foot pole though.
Really amazing to think Jefferson was only in his early thirties. He was a real progressive.
Here, I was referring to the current tendency to suppose that we somehow know better than our founding fathers today. I found a perfect example of why Jefferson could not have written a relevant guiding document for the structure and function of government over 200 years ago that is relevant today…..he never factored in Snooki humping a potted plant! Those “founding fathers”….what did they know?
http://gawker.com/5818893/snooki-is-humping-potted-plants-now