Jefferson

Jefferson Jefferson and Slavery The task of drafting the Declaration of Independence fell to Jefferson, who was known for his powerful writing style. Jefferson intended the document "to be an expression of the American mind," but the eloquence of the phrasing was his own. Thomas Jefferson claimed that he used "neither book nor pamphlet" when writing the declaration, but the document reflected a broad understanding of 18th-century political thought. Over time, the Declaration of Independence has profoundly affected American history. Phrases from the document such as "all men are created equal" quickly took on a life of their own or were applied to groups that the authors never anticipated, the ideal conflict being slavery. By Thomas Jefferson owning slaves, it made the Declaration of Independence false and hypocritical. On some level Thomas Jefferson is promoting the very thing he aims to destroy. He wants to jefferson, document, slaves, slavery, declaration, very, thomas, own, independence, ideal, against, writing, words, states, rights, quickly, men, equal, created, civil, black, american, within, white, while, war, united, understanding, took, time, thought, third, thing, task, taking