Slavery Grievance –Jefferson
Source: Thomas Jefferson was born to a slave-owning family and he himself owned slaves. As chairman of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote a paragraph condemning slavery in his first draft of the Declaration. He included this paragraph in his list of complaints against King George III. Before the final version of the Declaration was adopted, this paragraph was deleted. [King George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life 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. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce....
Questions:
1. Sourcing: When was this passage written? By whom?
2. Close Reading: How does Jefferson describe slavery? Who does he blame for the continuation of the slave trade?
3. Close Reading: Why do you think Jefferson italicizes the word ’Christian’ at the end of the first paragraph?
4. Contextualization: What else was going on at this time? Why do you think that Thomas Jefferson included a paragraph about slavery when he first wrote the Declaration of Independence? Why do you think it was removed?
