Why the Declaration of Independence still matters — Part 1: The Declaration and slavery

Glenn Beck Radio Show ^ | 7/03/2019 | Glenn Beck

[MacNaughton]

Was listening to Glenn Beck's radio show today and heard his dramatic reading of the First Draft of the Declaration of Independence.

"… America spends far too much time looking to the past for blame and excuse. And let's be honest, even the Right is often more concerned with “owning the left" than helping point anyone toward the practical principles of the Declaration of Independence. America has clearly lost touch with who we are as a nation. We have a national identity crisis. ...

… people might say, how could the Founders approve the phrase “All men are created equal," when many of them owned slaves? How did they miss that?

They didn't miss it. In fact, Thomas Jefferson included an anti-slavery passage in his first draft of the Declaration. The paragraph blasted King George for condoning slavery and preventing the American Colonies from passing legislation to ban slavery:

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights to life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere... Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce." ...

[MacNaughton]

Facsimile of the Draft of the Declaration of Independence

In the seventeen days between June 11 and June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson worked in veiled secrecy on what would become one of America’s most important documents. Desiring some peace, Jefferson rented two rooms from Jacob Graff Jr., a bricklayer from Philadelphia who owned a house on Market Street. During this time, Jefferson made a few drafts of the Declaration of Independence. All that remains of the first draft is a cut fragment that was found behind a picture frame in 1947. This first draft now lives in the archives at the Library of Congress with the rest of the Jefferson Papers Collection. This fragment shows the process Jefferson went through when writing the Declaration of Independence; there are lots of crossed out sections, scribbles, and errors. The copy of the draft in the Mercury Collection is one that followed this initial draft. After Jefferson worked out what he wanted to say, he made an unknown number of clean copies to be shared with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and other members of the committee so they could add their thoughts and approve what Jefferson had written. The majority of the 86 edits seen on this copy of the draft are in the handwriting of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. At a later date, most likely in the 1800s, Thomas Jefferson went back to his draft and annotated in the margins which changes were suggested by Adams and Franklin. Jefferson referred to this copy of the Declaration as the “original rough draught.” After the rest of the committee read the draft and provided their input, Jefferson made a clean copy of the document, which included some of the committee’s edits, to be submitted to Congress. This version of the draft, known as the Fair Copy, was presented to Congress on June 28, 1776.

As one can imagine, Thomas Jefferson was highly critical of the changes being made to the document he wrote. Most of the changes seen on the copy in the Mercury Collection made by Franklin and Adams are rather minor. Changes such as capitalization, punctuation, inserting a forgotten word, or rephrasing certain sentences were suggested by Franklin and Adams. Most of the edits on this “original rough draught” are additive, rather than subtractive. However, the edits made to the Fair Copy draft by Congress were much more extensive. The changes Jefferson fought the hardest was the removal of an entire paragraph on the third page of the Declaration that attributed responsibility of the slave trade in the colonies to King George III. In his Autobiography, Jefferson explains why this passage was cut from the Declaration of Independence:

The original first draft is in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

YouTube - Film "1776" and Slavery
video run time = 00:07:20 minutes
"1776" is a 1972 American musical drama film directed by Peter H. Hunt. The screenplay by Peter Stone was based on his book for the 1969 Broadway musical of the same name.[4] The song score was composed by Sherman Edwards. The film stars William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Donald Madden, John Cullum, Ken Howard and Blythe Danner. Portions of the dialogue and some of the song lyrics were taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants of the Second Continental Congress.

Jefferson Memorial, constructed 1939-1943

The National Sentinel: POTUS Trump Was Right - Leftists Now Beginning to Erase Our Founders' History after Charlottesville Council Votes to Sack Thomas Jefferson Holiday

[Grampa Dave]

The National Sentinel: POTUS Trump Was Right - Leftists Now Beginning to Erase Our Founders’ History after Charlottesville Council Votes to Sack Thomas Jefferson!

The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.” George Orwell, 1984

“Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished?”

1984 by George Orwell
Home Literature 1984 Characters Winston Smith

“Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished? If it survives anywhere, it’s in a few solid objects with no words attached to them, like that lump of glass there. Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution.

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, and every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day-by-day and minute-by-minute. History has stopped.

Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the falsification myself. After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains. The only evidence is inside my own mind, and I don’t know with any certainty that any other human being shares my memories.

Just in that one instance, in my whole life, I did possess actual concrete evidence after the event – years after it.” (2.5.14, Winston to Julia)

https://www.shmoop.com/1984/winston-smith-quotes-2.html

[lightman]

Great post!

Thanks for the shout out to my favorite musical of all time, “1776”.

The best songs are kept for last: “Mama, Look Sharp”; “Molasses to Rum to Slaves” and “Is Anybody There?”

Just watched it again tonight, like I do every July 3 or 4.

[Lurkinanloomin]

It was Nikki Haley that kicked off this erasure of history, never forget.

[yesthatjallen]

[real saxophonist]

Two questions to ask any politician:

1. Where do our rights come from?
2. What is the purpose of government?

I guarantee none will answer correctly.

The answers:
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 destruc

[BuddhaBrown]

The Constitution is great and all, but... the Declaration of Independence is the soul of America.

Without the DOI, the Constitution is nothing but evidence of treason.

[Daffy]

Glenn Beck: “. . .how could the Founders approve the phrase ‘All men are created equal,’ . . .”

Perhaps it means; no Royalty, or Royal persons established by parentage, and recognized in law.