Read the artilce and decider for yourself which word you prefer.
Idiom of the time. Words had more meaning back then.
I’m good with “citizen”.
“Jefferson changed ‘subjects’ to ‘citizens’ in Declaration of Independence”
He was thinking about King George...and Barack Obama.
Be prepared for Jefferson haters. I had one.
You beat me to it. I was going to say Obama wants to change it back again.
Edumund Burke in his "Speech on Conciliation," reminded the British Parliament of the oppressive nature of taxation to people who valued liberty:
"Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has formed to itself some favorite point, which by way of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness. It happened, you know, Sir, that the great contests [Footnote: 24] for freedom in this country were from the earliest times chiefly upon the question of taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient commonwealths turned primarily on the right of election of magistrates; or on the balance among the several orders of the state. The question of money was not with them so immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On this point of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, have been exercised; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to give the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, it was not only necessary for those who in argument defended the excellence of the English Constitution to insist on this privilege of granting money as a dry point of fact, and to prove that the right had been acknowledged in ancient parchments and blind usages to reside in a certain body called a House of Commons. They went much farther; they attempted to prove, and they succeeded, that in theory it ought to be so, from the particular nature of a House of Commons as an immediate representative of the people, whether the old records had delivered this oracle or not. They took infinite pains to inculcate, as a fundamental principle, that in all monarchies the people must in effect themselves, mediately or immediately, possess the power of granting their own money, or no shadow of liberty can subsist. The Colonies draw from you, as with their life-blood, these ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as with you, fixed and attached on this specific point of taxing. Liberty might be safe, or might be endangered, in twenty other particulars, without their being much pleased or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; and as they found that beat, they thought themselves sick or sound."
In America, the word "citizen" held special meaning. The philosophy of its Declaration of Independence and Constitution made the citizen, under the "Governor of the Universe," (Madison) sovereign over its representatives in government--not "subjects" thereof. Thus, the strict constitutional limitations on the power to tax and spend "the People's" money.
Sadly, King George's philosophy has reared its ugly head in America today, as the Founders' Constitution and restraints on government are being denied in an attempt to make Americans "subjects" of an out-of-control political elite.
I am sure the MSM will find some way to defame Jefferson (one of the Old Dead White guys) for this. Surely there is some scandal here. Or something racist maybe.
Something, anything.
And folks have been changing the subject ever since that time.