Bruce G. Kauffmann
HISTORIAN
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
SPEAKER
AUTHOR
The Top Five Things Every Amerian Should Know About:
the Declaration of Independence
1.
Thomas Jefferson was assigned to write the Declaration because it wasn’t considered a big deal and
everyone else was too busy. Jefferson was appointed to a five-man committee to draft an independence
declaration, and the others four were busy sitting on committees dealing with how to raise, equip, train and
pay for an army to fight the British. John Adams had considered writing it, but chose Jefferson because he
thought Jefferson the better writer, and because he, Adams, was considered a radical member of Congress,
so he thought anything he wrote would be rejected by the moderates. Finally, Adams also sat on several
important congressional committees that took up a lot of his time, so, he thought, let the kid write it. In his
wildest dreams no member of that Congress thought the Declaration of Independence would achieve the
fame it has today.
2.
Jefferson’s famous passage, beginning with “We hold these truths to be self evident …” was of secondary
importance when the Continental Congress reviewed his original draft. The purpose of the Declaration, as
Jefferson noted in his opening passage, was to “declare the causes which impel them to separation.” The
Founders wanted to explain to the world, especially the nations of Europe, why they needed to split from
Britain, in part because they were hoping those other European powers, all of which would be happy to see
Britain knocked down a peg, might help them militarily in any war with Britain. Thus Congress was most
interested in the Declaration’s litany of complaints against King George III, which took up most of the
document. It wasn’t until several decades later that the significance of the “We hold these truths …” passage
became apparent.
3.
Jefferson was actually very unhappy with the changes Congress made to his first draft, and for years played
down his authorship of the document. Congress took issue with some of Jefferson’s claims about the bad
behavior of King George III. For example, Jefferson claimed George had forced the slave trade on America,
a passage Congress deleted, both because King George ascended the throne 140 years after slavery came to
America, but also because there had been few, if any efforts to end slavery in 1776. Jefferson, very thinskinned, seethed as Congress picked apart his first draft.
4.
The Declaration radically changed our understanding of government. Previously, sovereignty had always
belonged to a nation’s rulers, be they dictators, kings, or even elected representatives, and the only rights or
freedoms the people possessed were those given to them by these rulers — and they were usually given
grudgingly. Jefferson changed, actually reversed, that principle by writing that to “secure” our God-given
(not government-given) rights, governments are necessary, but they “derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed.” That is, ultimate sovereignty rests with the people themselves, “the governed,” and
the only powers governments possess are those given to them — equally grudgingly — by the people when
they do “consent” to delegate power. Jefferson believed that we are born free, but keeping our freedom is the
challenge. A nation in which the people grant their government limited powers has a lot better chance of
meeting that challenge than a nation in which the government grants its people limited rights.
5.
On Jefferson’s tombstone he cites The Declaration of Independence, his Virginia Statute for Religious
Freedom and founding the University of Virginia as his life achievements. No mention of any political
office, including President of the United States.
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