I believe that no single man in history better deserves credit for ending slavery than Thomas Jefferson. The five words he put into the Declaration of Independence had a massive impact on the subsequent abolition movements. They singlehandedly caused slavery to be abolished in Massachusetts, and they made people aware of the dichotomy between slavery and freedom.
I think without Thomas Jefferson, the anti-slavery movement would have taken many decades longer.
His words have such an effect that for many people they are the only part of the Declaration of Independence which they can quote, or view with any significance.
They singlehandedly caused slavery to be abolished in Massachusetts,
Strange, I have not read any single cases in the Massachusetts, where the activist judges that took it upon themselves to outlaw slavery in the state citing Jefferson’s words as a basis for their decisions.
Can you provide me some writing were these activist judges made their decisions based on Jefferson’s thoughts.