1. It appears that while Jefferson opposed slavery in principle, he saw no obvious way to end it once it became established. The Declaration of Independence has no legal authority. Since 1776, no words in the Declaration of Independence have received more attention than Jefferson's phrase, "All men are created equal." Republic vs. Democracy: What Is the Difference? On June 8, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to write a declaration of independence and quickly appointed a committee to draft a formal document. Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment. Hold a general class discussio… By listing the “long train of abuses” committed by King George III against American colonists in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson used Locke’s theory to justify the American Revolution. To serve that purpose, he reasoned, individuals have both a right and a duty to preserve their own lives. Locke believed that the most basic human law of nature is the preservation of mankind. Most scholars today believe that Jefferson derived the most famous ideas in the Declaration of Independence from the writings of English philosopher John Locke. Constitutional Rights Foundationis a member of: Terms of Use | Privacy Notice | Donor Privacy Policy | Constitutional Rights Foundation, 601 S. Kingsley Drive., Los Angeles, CA 90005 | 213.487.5590 | crf@crf-usa.org. These actions by the British king and government inflamed Americans who were undecided about independence and made war with England all but certain. There are really only three rights listed in the Declaration of Independence. Some of Jefferson’s fellow enslaver separatists justified the obvious contradiction by explaining that only “civilized” people had natural rights, thus excluding enslaved people from eligibility. It is not part of the basic law of the United States like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Raj R., Teacher. The members of the Continental Congress made only two minor changes in the opening paragraphs of Jefferson's draft declaration. Definition and Examples, Your Rights and Responsibilities as a New US Citizen, Brief History of the Declaration of Independence. “He (King George) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither,” he wrote in a draft of the document. The delegates made some small changes to improve the Declaration's clarity and accuracy. By "property," Locke meant more than land and goods that could be sold, given away, or even confiscated by the government under certain circumstances. Then read Jefferson's first two paragraphs in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, age 33, arrived in Philadelphia on June 20, 1775, as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Instead, they concentrated on Jefferson's list of grievances against King George and the British people. For each one of the three rights, group members should answer this question: What does this right specifically refer to in our lives today? This was the period during the 17th and 18th centuries when thinkers turned to reason and science to explain both the physical universe and human behavior. Should the government break this “contract” with its citizens by enacting “a long train of abuses,” the citizens had the right to abolish and replace that government. George Mason’s Bill of Rights for the Virginia Constitution, published in the Philadelphia papers in mid-June 1776 and almost certainly in Jefferson’s possession when he drafted the Declaration, began, “all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights.” The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress in 1774 had introduced its catalogue of rights as follows: …
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