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Essay On The Declaration Of Independence

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After years and years of tyrannous oppression from the Mother country, the American colonies were ready to be rid of the British monarchy, so much so that in 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. But the Declaration was not perfect, even after several revisions and rewrites. One major imperfection was its call for equal rights for all men when Africans were still being used as slaves, and it did not state that that would change once the Americans were free from British reign. This one imperfection would cause conflict between the states and their citizens for years. While this issue should have been dealt with and would have best been dealt with in the Declaration of Independence, the southern states would …show more content…

All 13 colonies agreed that they no longer wanted to be ruled by Britain, but they disagreed on the slavery issue, which was included in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence. The southern states would not sign if anything against slavery was included, therefore, hoping that slavery would be dealt with later, all mention against slavery was removed. But they would be free from excessive taxation without representation and distant rulers with their own agendas. The colonies needed to be free from Britain, why should they let a small disagreement like slavery get in the way of their freedom?

African chattel slavery already had a large presence in America at the time of the Declaration of Independence. For years, Britain and other countries had gone to Africa, abducted the natives, and shipped them to the states to be sold as slaves. This, of course, is morally and ethically wrong, which is why the Declaration writers included it in the Declaration. They did so, in hopes that they could end slavery in the states. Ending slavery would mean freedom for an enormous number of African slaves. But would including it in the Declaration actually abolish it in the

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Slaves in the South sided with the British over the issue of independence because the British often promised slaves their freedom in exchange for their support in the Revolution. In essence, the Deep South did not favor independence because Britain endorsed slavery, and the southerners feared that the Patriots would eventually put an end to slavery, thus wreaking havoc on the economic provisions for the wealthy planter class. Overall, Pennsylvania and the Deep South did not want independence for a myriad of reasons. Pennsylvania was disinterested in independence because it did not have powerful allies like other states. The Deep South was also not seeking independence because ultimately, they did not want to lose slavery.

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It also included a passage critical of King George III and the slave trade, but were omitted from the final draft, for being too controversial. The Declaration of Independence was a Declaration for international recognition of America’s struggle for freedom and served as an inspiration for colonial peoples around the world seeking

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John Dickinson has been an enigma for most historians of the American Revolutionary period, who have had a challenging time reconciling his role as the “penman” of the American Revolution with his refusal to sign the Declaration of Independence . The other colonists signed the bill and they played a noteworthy part in the history of the birthing of the United Colonies (United States) that cannot be forgotten. Jefferson 's draft constitution for the state of Virginia forbade the importation of slaves, and his draft of the Declaration of Independence-written at a time when he himself had inherited about 200 slaves-included a paragraph condemning the British king for introducing slavery into the colonies and continuing the slave trade ”. The first draft of the Declaration of Independence was not successful because of it included the slaves; there was a second draft that excluded the American slaves and it passed. Many colonists were slave owners and Thomas Jefferson were in that number as well.

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Many of us know that the intention of the declaration was to tell the King of England his transgressions against the colonies, and why the colonies wanted to break off from England. In both drafts Jefferson goes on to say how the king taxes the colonies without representation or allowing British soldiers to live in in a civilian's house just because. One thing that Jefferson mentions in the original draft that the greatest sin the crown has done to the colonies is slavery. Jefferson states,” He 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.”.

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The issue of abolishing slavery was left out of the Declaration of Independence because in 1776 there was already action being taken for slaves and it is stated in Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation on Slave Emancipation (1775). Earl of Dunmore, John Murray, a royal governor and a Scottish aristocrat, wrote the Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation on Slave Emancipation, it was during a war and it grew out of Dunmore’s efforts to counter an impending attack on his capital of Williamsburg by the patriot military in the spring of 1775, when he threatened to free and arm slaves to defend the cause of royal government. During the time he was retreating, he was gathering slaves. His proclamation was commanding Virginians to support the crown or be judged. Traitors now offered freedom to all slaves and indentured servants belonging to rebels and able to bear arms for the crown.

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