{"id":38,"date":"2015-02-17T03:36:05","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T03:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecafeprojects.com\/declarationproject\/?page_id=38"},"modified":"2021-01-08T17:04:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T17:04:05","slug":"jeffersons-declarations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/?page_id=38","title":{"rendered":"Jefferson’s Declarations"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Jefferson’s Declarations<\/h3>

Thomas Jefferson actually wrote three ‘declarations’ — but not the one he’s known for. What has long since come to be known as the\u00a0<\/em>Declaration of Independence that Jefferson ‘authored’ was in fact the work of the entire Second Continental Congress, which made deft cuts and additions to the draft of Jefferson that changed the entire tone and tenor, and in a way that made it a genuine document that spoke to the vast majority of Americans. TELL FULLER STORY \u00a0Jefferson of course is the prime fomenter of the myth that he was the scribe of the Declaration itself — indeed, he went so far as to\u00a0have etched\u00a0on his tombstone that he was the author of the document.<\/p>

None of this is to understate Jefferson’s accomplishments in the ‘declarational’ department; but rather, it is to say that we do Jefferson and our fellow founders a disservice by giving him credit where it isn’t do, and taking away from others credit that is due.<\/p>

Jefferson, though, had declaration writing in his bones. One can say he wrote or co-wrote three declarations that did change the course of history — including the draft of\u00a0the\u00a0<\/em>Declaration that was redacted and revised by his fellow Founders, and without which they could not have worked their own magic (much to the dismay of Jefferson, who couldn’t see that their handiwork made the document\u00a0as close to timeless as what had been meant to be a timely workaday document could ever be).<\/p>

We currently have the following declarations from Thomas Jefferson archived:<\/span><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tPreamble to Virginia Constitution – a Declaration of Grievances (June 29, 1776)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFebruary 23, 2015\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Editor’s Note: Ever wonder where Jefferson came up with the\u00a0grievances enumerated in his first draft of the Declaration? You need look no further than\u00a0the Preamble<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tJefferson’s First Draft of the Declaration of Independence (1776)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFebruary 17, 2015\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Editor’s note: While Jefferson audaciously, and incorrectly, had etched on his tombstone the he was “author of the Declaration of Independence,” the best he can<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tA Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFebruary 17, 2015\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Editor’s Note: \u00a0The Summary View, Jefferson’s first manifesto,\u00a0which\u00a0served as great grist for Jefferson’s draft of\u00a0the\u00a0Declaration of July 4, 1776, contains one of the most radical<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tDeclaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (1775)\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tFebruary 17, 2015\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Editor’s note: \u00a0Thomas Jefferson took his first stab at bona fide ‘Declaration creation’ with this document. Issued on July 6, 1775 by the Second Continental<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jefferson’s Declarations Thomas Jefferson actually wrote three ‘declarations’ — but not the one he’s known for. What has long since come to be known as the\u00a0Declaration of Independence that Jefferson ‘authored’ was in fact the work of the entire Second Continental Congress, which made deft cuts and additions to the draft of Jefferson that changed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-38","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2336,"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/2336"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/declarationproject.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}