Which Enlightenment idea is reflected in the Declaration of Independence apex?

Drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776 became the defining event in Thomas Jefferson's life. Despite Jefferson's desire to return to Virginia to help write that state's constitution, the Continental Congress appointed him to the five-person committee for drafting a declaration of independence. That committee subsequently assigned him the task of producing a draft document for its consideration. Drawing on documents, such as the Virginia Declaration of Rights, state and local calls for independence, and his own draft of a Virginia constitution, Jefferson wrote a stunning statement of the colonists' right to rebel against the British government and establish their own based on the premise that all men are created equal and have the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Through the many revisions made by Jefferson, the committee, and then by Congress, Jefferson retained his prominent role in writing the defining document of the American Revolution and, indeed, of the United States. Jefferson was critical of changes to the document, particularly the removal of a long paragraph that attributed responsibility of the slave trade to British King George III. Jefferson was justly proud of his role in writing the Declaration of Independence and skillfully defended his authorship of this hallowed document.

Influential Precedents

Instructions to Virginia's Delegates to the first Continental Congress written by Thomas Jefferson in 1774

Thomas Jefferson. Instructions to Virginia's Delegates, 1774. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (39)

Fairfax County Resolves, July 18, 1774

George Mason and George Washington. Fairfax County Resolves, 1774. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (40)

George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights

George Mason and Thomas Ludwell Lee. Draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (41)

Thomas Jefferson's Draft of a Constitution for Virginia, predecessor of The Declaration Of Independence

The Fragment

Fragment of the earliest known draft of the Declaration, June, 1776

Thomas Jefferson. Draft fragment of the Declaration of Independence, 1776, Manuscript. Manuscript Division (48)

The Rough Draft

Original Rough Draft of the Declaration

Written in June 1776, Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence, included eighty-six changes made later by John Adams (1735–1826), Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790), other members of the committee appointed to draft the document, and by Congress. The “original Rough draught” of the Declaration of Independence, one of the great milestones in American history, shows the evolution of the text from the initial composition draft by Jefferson to the final text adopted by Congress on the morning of July 4, 1776. At a later date perhaps in the nineteenth century, Jefferson indicated in the margins some but not all of the corrections suggested by Adams and Franklin. Late in life Jefferson endorsed this document: “Independence Declaration of original Rough draught.”

Thomas Jefferson. Draft of Declaration of Independence, 1776. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (49)

The Graff House where Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence

Submitting the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress, June 28, 1776

Edward Savage and/or Robert Edge Pine. Congress Voting the Declaration of Independence, c. 1776. Copyprint of oil on canvas, Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (53)

The “Declaration Committee,” chaired by Thomas Jefferson

The Final Document

George Washington's copy of the Declaration of Independence

[In Congress, July 4, 1776. A Declaration By the Representatives of the United States of America, In General Congress Assembled.] [Philadelphia: John Dunlap, July 4, 1776]. Broadside with broken at lines 34 and 54 with text below line 54 missing. Manuscript Division (51)

Independence Hall

James Trenchard after a painting by Charles Willson Peale. A NW View of the State House in Philadelphia in Columbian Magazine, 1787. Copyprint of engraving. Rare Book & Special Collections Division (44)

Prospect of Philadelphia

George Heap under the direction of Nicholas Scull, surveyor general of Pennsylvania. Prospect of the City of Philadelphia, 1768. Copyprint of map and engraving. Prints and Photographs Division (6)

Destroying the statue of King George III

John C. McRae after Johnannes A. Oertel. Pulling down the statue of George III by the “Sons of Freedom,” at the Bowling Green, City of New York, July 1776. New York : Published by Joseph Laing, [ca. 1875] Copyprint of engraving. Prints and Photographs Division (52)

First public reading of the Declaration of Independence

The Manner in Which the American Colonies Declared Themselves Independent of the King of England, Throughout the Different Provinces, on July 4, 1776. Copyprint of etching. Prints and Photographs Division (57)

The Aftermath

Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence, as reported to Congress

Jefferson consoled for his “mangled” manuscript

Richard Henry Lee to Thomas Jefferson, July 21, 1776. Manuscript letter. Manuscript Division (54)

The Goddess Of Liberty

The Goddess of Liberty with a Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, Salem, Massachusetts, January 15, 1807. Copyprint of painting. Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery, the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (32)

Thomas Jefferson's portable writing desk

The Declaration of Independence was composed on this mahogany lap desk, designed by Jefferson and built by Philadelphia cabinet maker Benjamin Randolph. Jefferson gave it to Joseph Coolidge, Jr. (1798–1879) when he married Ellen Randolph, Jefferson's granddaughter. In giving it, Jefferson wrote on November 18, 1825: “Politics, as well as Religion, has it's superstitions. These, gaining strength with time, may, one day give imaginary value to this relic, for it's association with the birth of the Great Charter of our Independence.” Coolidge replied, on February 27, 1826, that he would consider the desk “no longer inanimate, and mute, but as something to be interrogated and caressed.”

Benjamin Randolph after a design by Thomas Jefferson. Portable writing desk, Philadelphia, 1776. Courtesy of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (30)

Thomas Jefferson's monogrammed silver pen

Probably by William Cowan. Silver pen, Richmond, Virginia, c.1824. Courtesy of the Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc. (31)

Lord Kames, Henry Home, Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion

Algernon Sidney, Discourses Concerning Government

Algernon Sidney. Discourses Concerning Government by Algernon Sidney with his Letters, Trial Apology and some Memoirs of His Life. London: Printed for A. Millar, 1763. Rare Book and Special Collections Division (35)

Which Enlightenment ideas reflected in the Declaration of Independence apex?

Which Enlightenment idea is reflected in Declaration of Independence?