Jefferson was just 33 years old when he sat in a hot stuffy little room in Philadelphia and penned these words.
Draft after draft fell beneath his quill as he fought to get all his thoughts on parchment.
As a slave owner himself, with over 100 slaves, and as part of the American Aristocracy he was torn by the “All men are created equal” portion of the Declaration.
In the end, he included wording regarding the illegitimacy of slavery only to have it and over ninety other items removed from the text during review by the Continental Congress.
At the end, the document we have today was ratified with the signatures of men who pledged “their sacred honor” to Liberty. Those men willingly put themselves in danger of being hung for treason by the Crown.
Their great experiment continues today, however, the despots and tyrants persist in their attempts to threaten our LIBERTY.
I remember the movie musical “1776”, duing the song part about who would write the Declaration. One of my favorite parts of “1776”.
“But Mr. Adams” is the song when the debate on who would wrtie the Declaration was discussed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbYgLae1u0&feature=related