Declaration of Independence - Essay Example

Comparison between Jefferson’s initial Declarations on Independence And the final version The Declaration of Independence was a document that was ratified by congress on July 4, 1776 announcing that thirteen colonies of America which were at war with Great Britain had declared themselves independent states. Its chief architects were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. It was an official explanation as to why Congress had voted to declare the thirteen colonies independent from Great Britain. This took place a little after a year of war with Great Britain.

July 4th, the year that the Declaration was approved by Congress is still celebrated as Independence Day in America. There is no big difference between the initial Declaration and the final version. Most of the wording was retained as it was in the initial document. Very minimal alterations were made on the document. In comparing Jefferson’s initial Declaration with the final version, it can be noted that most of the alterations made were on the wording in the document. This was more for the purpose of clarity than for alteration of meaning of the words in the Declaration.

Of the draft presented to Congress, only two passages were rejected directly by Congress. One of the passages referred to the English people in an inappropriate manner which did not go down well with congress since even the Americans were of British roots. The other passage which denounced slavery and slave trade did not please Congress as many members owned slaves and were not willing to set them free. The alterations of the wording in the document was to give the document a more personalized feel as will be explained by the following examples.

Some of the alterations for example at the start of the Declaration where the article “of” is changed to “by”, was intended to bring out the aspect of personalization. The alteration of the words “sacred & undeniable” to read “self evident” may have been done to avoid the statement a religious feel. Some alterations were made for grammatical purposes to avoid unintended meanings from statements. This is evident in the second paragraph where the article “in” was deleted before the word “rights”.

It is clear from this example that inclusion of the article would have given the statement a different meaning that was not intended by the drafters of the declaration. Other alterations may have been made to correct human error as in the case where Jefferson deletes the words “he has dissolved” from the beginning of a line he was writing. It is clear that this was because he was repeating the previous line and on realization he struck out the phrase. In another alteration when stating the wrongs the King of Great Britain had done to the Americans, the phrase “fellow subjects” is expunged and replaced with “citizens”.

This is done in light of the fact that the document was a declaration of independence. It would have been wrong for them to continue referring to each other as subjects yet they were declaring their freedom. Many of the word alterations as seen from the given examples were done for the purpose of minding the language used when addressing the people. The Declaration was meant to instill confidence to the people which could be best achieved by a well written document. It was also done to ensure that the declaration conveys its intended meaning in the best way possible.

Deletion of the two passages This may be the only alterations done to the Declaration that bore a significant impact on the aftermath of the declaration. The first passage which had extreme references to the English people may have been rejected because the Americans were of British decent. The second passage was rejected for selfish reasons. It advocated for the freeing of slaves. A majority of representatives owned slaves and were not about to let them go. This resulted in rejection of the passage.

In conclusion it is prudent to noted that although several alterations were done on the initial declaration, the final draft still retained its intended meaning and served its purpose. Works Cited The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 1: 1760-1776. Princeton University Press, 1950. Web.10 Oct 2011.