This first part of the Declaration contains an assertion of individual rights. The final draft of the Declaration of Independence contains a preamble, a list of grievances, a formal declaration of independence, and signatures. Jefferson was most angered by the removal of one particular clause, a clause blaming the King for forcing the slave trade upon the American colonies. The Second Continental Congress removed whole sections. Between the Committee of Five and the Second Continental Congress, there were 86 edits to the document. Jefferson finished his timeless defense of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in little more than two weeks, and like most writers, he was no stranger to the revision process. He goes on to claim that “ authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day.” (Jefferson to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825) “It was intended to be an expression of the American mind,” Jefferson explains. Looking back on the Declaration of Independence almost 50 years later, Thomas Jefferson explained that the document’s purpose was never meant to be thoroughly original its purpose wasn’t to articulate anything that hadn’t be said before, but to make the case for the American colonies in plain terms and persuade the world to see common sense.
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