Pros And Cons Of The Declaration Of Independence

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1. Jefferson’s paragraph of contradictions accusing King George for being responsible for slavery, while also accusing him of “freeing” the slaves was almost entirely redacted from the Declaration of Independence. It is reduced to one line claiming that the King has “excited domestic insurrections among us.” This is a vague way of addressing, but not addressing the issue of slavery in the Declaration. The Continental Congress understood that this section of Jefferson’s draft would not hold up under scrutiny and contradicts the message of “all men are created equal.” This missing passage tells us that Jefferson was aware of the contradiction; he discusses how inhumane the enslavement of Africans is, but had slaves himself. Additionally, the passage that was left out hides that one of the deciding factors for the American Revolution was, in part, due to the actions of African slaves in the colonies. Dunmore’s Proclamation stated that “any slave that deserted his master to fight for the king would be freed.” This contributed to …show more content…
The audiences of the Declaration of Independence were the colonists and the British government. The document needed to alert the colonists of their independence from Britain, justify their grievances to those of them that were still opposed to the idea of revolution, and inform them of the upcoming battle. Additionally, the authors of the Declaration expected the document to incite the colonist’s outrage at the British government and encourage them to fight for the cause. The authors anticipated that upon reading the Declaration, the British would go to war with America. A potential unintended audience of the Declaration of Independence was the African slaves in the colonies. Though it was unlikely that they were allowed to read it, the discussion of it and the idea of freedom sparked the idea of attempting their own rebellion. This is why they offered up themselves as potential soldiers against the colonies in exchange for their
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