WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The latest installment of Information School professor Joe Janes’ podcast series Documents that Changed the World discusses the 168 powerful words condemning slavery that were removed from the Declaration of Independence.

Detailed explanation-2: -What isn’t widely known, however, is that Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, in an early version of the Declaration, drafted a 168-word passage that condemned slavery as one of the many evils foisted upon the colonies by the British crown. The passage was cut from the final wording.

Detailed explanation-3: -Those who drafted the Declaration believed that it was better to remove the section dealing with slavery than risk a long debate over the issue of slavery. They needed the support for independence from the southern states.

Detailed explanation-4: -The final document does not mention slavery and, through its silence, condones enslavement, but the first draft includes a condemnation of slavery. These words, removed before it was finalized, underscored the contradiction between the founding fathers’ beliefs and actions. The Created Equal exhibition.

Detailed explanation-5: -The introductory sentence states the Declaration’s main purpose, to explain the colonists’ right to revolution. In other words, “to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Congress had to prove the legitimacy of its cause.