Slavery as practiced in 1860 was significantly more harsh that that practiced during the American Revolution, and—even though it was deleted to appease the Southern colonies—Thomas Jefferson—a slave owner—included language in the draft of the Declaration of Independence which specifically decried slavery.
I guess his services wouldn't have been needed in 1860's Virginia when the pro-slavery elites decided to "improve" on the original United States Constitution.
Granting that it was ignorant and hypocritical to practice slavery in the Revolutionary period, it was even more so by the time almost another century had passed...
Had the slavery clause not been removed from the Declaration of Independence, South Carolina and some of the other Southern states would have voted against independence, and the Continental Congress had adopted a rule that it required a unanimous vote.
The historical reference all these discussions lack, IMHO, is they never look to what comes after. Look at the conditions of laborers in the decades following 1865. Grinding poverty in agricultural and industrial settings for the vast majority of Americans. So if the war WAS about slavery, seems to me, the only appropriate historical perspective has to be “both sides lost”.
He did in his original drafts, but the other founders thought better of it and had it removed. Left in was a "grievance" that the British were inciting rebellion in the slaves through Lord Dunmore's proclamation.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,"
That part got left in.
Oddly enough, even though Jefferson decried slavery, his principles never motivated him to free his own slaves.