“Then you would understand it differently than people would have understood it at the time. When were those early draft first released to the public?”
It is my understanding a committee consisting of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Robert R. Livingston was appointed to prepare a declaration of independence on June 11, 1776.
Between June 11 and July 4, when Congress approved the final wording, there was, reportedly, a Composition Draft, a Rough Draft, and a Fair Copy - maybe more, I don’t know.
On the night of July 4 a printer made copies of the approved DOI and began public distribution.
From June 11 to July 4 is a time period of 23 days by my count. Are you thinking the English language changed significantly during the 23 days when the drafts may have leaked and the final printed version became public?
I’m not following your thinking.
Gentlemen, while we debate whether or not the phrase “domestic insurrection” is a euphemism for “Slave insurrection”, I think that we can all agree that the stricken passage of T. Jefferson’s was most certainly about slavery. It is readily apparent that in that particular grievance he certainly was unequivocal in his referencing of black slaves. We therefore all agree that Jefferson was ready, willing and able to reference slaves without resorting to euphemisms. Now we must as well admit that the part of grievance #27 that reads, “he has excited domestic insurrection.......” was not a part of Jefferson’s draft, but was added. Was it added by the same person who wrote the first drafts (Jefferson)? We know that the stricken grievance of Jefferson’s was stricken by others. Did these same others add the “domestics” to the merciless savages grievance? Or did they condense the stricken grievance and splice it in along with the merciless savages? Not one of us knows who authored, “excited domestic insurrection” or what is meant by it.