J

VI

DRAFTING THE DECLARATION

OHN ADAMS, in his Autobiography, gives the following account (written, according to Charles Francis Adams, in 1805) of the drafting of the Declaration :

[Qy] The Committee had several Meetings, in which were proposed the articles of which the Declaration was to consist, and minutes made of them. The Committee then appointed M' Jefferson and me, to draw them up in form, and cloath them in proper Dress. The Sub Committee met, and considered the Minutes, making such Observations on them as then occurred: when Mr Jefferson desired me to take them to my lodgings and make the Draught. This I declined and gave several reasons for declining that he was a Virginian and I a Massachusettensian. 2. that he was a Southern Man and I a northern one. 3. That I had been so obnoxious for my early and constant Zeal in promoting the Measure, that any draught of mine, would undergo a more severe Scrutiny and Criticism in Congress, than one of his composition. 4thly and lastly and that would be reason enough if there were no other, I had a great opinion of the Elegance of his pen, and none at all of my own. I therefore insisted that no hesitation should be made on his part. He accordingly took the Minutes and in a day or two produced to me his Draught. Whether I made or suggested any corrections. The Report was made to the Committee of five, by them examined, but whether altered or corrected in any

I remember not.

thing I cannot recollect. But in Substance at least it was reported to Congress where, after a Severe Criticism, and Striking out several of the most oratorical Paragraphs it was adopted on the fourth of July 1776, and published to the World.

A similar account is found in his letter of 1822 to Pickering:

1

[Ms] The Committee met, discussed the subject, and then appointed Mr. Jefferson & me to make the draught; I suppose, because we were the two highest on the list. The Sub-Committee met; Jefferson proposed to me to make the draught, I said I will not; You shall do it. Oh No! Why will you not? You ought to do it. I will not. Why? Reasons enough. What can be your reasons? Reason 1 You are a Virginian and Virginia ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason 24 I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular; You are very much otherwise. Reason 3 You can write ten times better than I can. "Well," said Jefferson, "if you are decided I will do as well as I can." Very well, when you have drawn it up we will have a meeting. A meeting we accordingly had and conn'd the paper over. I was delighted with its high tone, and the flights of Oratory with which it abounded, especially that concerning Negro Slavery, which though I knew his Southern Bretheren would never suffer to pass in Congress, I certainly never would oppose. There were other expressions, which I would not have inserted had I drawn it up; particularly that which called the King a Tyrant. I thought this too personal, for I never believed George to be a tyrant in disposition and in nature: I always believed him to be deceived by his Courtiers on both sides the Atlantic, and in his Official capacity only, Cruel.

I thought the expression too passionate and too much like scolding for so grave and solemn a document; but as Franklin and Sherman were to inspect it afterwards, I thought it would

not become me to strike it out. I consented to report it and do not now remember that I made or suggested a single alteration. We reported it to the committee of Five. It was read and I do not remember that Franklin or Sherman criticized anything. We were all in haste; Congress was impatient and the Instrument was reported, I believe in Jefferson's hand writing as he first drew it... As you justly observe2, there is not an idea in it, but what had been hackney'd in Congress for two years before. The substance of it is contained in the Declaration of rights and the violation of those rights, in the Journal of Congress in 1774.3 Indeed, the essence of it is contained in a pamphlet, voted and printed by the Town of Boston before the first Congress met, composed by James Otis, as I suppose-in one of his lucid intervals, and pruned and polished by Sam Adams —

This letter was quoted by Pickering in the course of some remarks made at Salem on the succeeding national anniversary.

It brought forth immediately, August 30th (1823), a letter from Jefferson, to Madison, in which Jefferson gave an account quite different. He says:

[S;P] You have doubtless seen Timothy Pickering's 4th of July observations on the Declaration of Independance. if his principles and prejudices personal and political, gave us no reason to doubt whether he had truly quoted the information he alledges to have received from M: Adams, I should then say that, in some of the particulars, mr Adams's memory has led him into unquestionable error. at the age of 88 and 47. years after the transactions of Independance, this is not wonderful. nor should I, at the age of 80, on the small advantage of that difference only, venture to oppose my memory to his, were it not supported by written notes, taken by myself at the moment and on the spot. he says 'the

committee (of 5. to wit, Dr Franklin, Sherman, Livingston and ourselves) met, discussed the subject, and then appointed him and myself to make the draught: that we, as a subcommittee met, & after the urgencies of each on the other, I consented to undertake the task; that the draught being made, we, the subcommittee, met, & conned the paper over, and he does not remember that he made or suggested a single alteration.' now these details are quite incorrect. the committee of 5. met, no such thing as a subcommittee was proposed, but they unanimously 5 pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. I consented; I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee, I communicated it separately to D! Franklin and mr Adams requesting their corrections; because they were the two members of whose judgments and amendments I wished most to have the benefit before presenting it to the Committee; and you have seen the original paper 8 now 9 in my hands, with the corrections 10 of Doctor Franklin and mr Adams interlined in their own handwritings.

their

alterations were two or three only, and merely verbal. I then wrote a fair copy 12, reported it to the Committee, and from them, unaltered to Congress. this personal communication and consultation with mr Adams he has misremembered into the meetings of a sub-committee. Pickering's observations, and mr Adams's in addition, that it contained no new ideas, that it is a common place compilation, it's sentiments hacknied in Congress for two years before, and it's essence contained in Otis's pamphlet,' may all be true. of that I am not to be the judge. Rich H. Lee charged it as copied from Locke's treatise on government.13 Otis's pamphlet I never saw, & whether I had gathered my ideas from reading or reflection I do not know. I know only that I turned to neither book or pamphlet while writing it.14 I did not consider it as any part of my charge to invent new ideas altogether & to offer no sentiment which had