29. It is usual, when committees are elected by ballot, that
their members should be arranged in order, according to the
number of votes which each has received. Mr. Jefferson,
therefore, had received the highest, and Mr. Adams the
next highest number of votes. The difference is said to have
been but of a single vote. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams,
standing thus at the head of the committee, were requested
by the other members to act as a subcommittee to prepare
the draft; and Mr. Jefferson drew up the paper. The original draft, as brought by him from his study, and submitted
to the other members of the committee, with interlineations
in the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, and others in that of
Mr. Adams, was in Mr. Jefferson's possession at the time of
his death.[1] The merit of this paper is Mr. Jefferson's.
Some changes were made in it at the suggestion of
members of the committee, and others by Congress while it
was under discussion. But none of them altered the tone,
the frame, the arrangement, or the general character of the
instrument. As a composition, the Declaration is Mr. Jefferson's. It is the production of his mind, and the high
honor of it belongs to him, clearly and absolutely.
30. It has sometimes been said, as if it were a derogation from the merits of this paper, that it contains nothing new; that it only states grounds of proceedings, and presses topics of argument, which had often been stated and pressed before. But it was not the object of the Declaration to produce anything new. It was not to invent reasons for Independence, but to state those which governed the Congress. For great and sufficient causes, it was proposed to declare Independence; and the proper business of the paper to be drawn was to set forth those causes, and justify the authors of the measure, in any event of fortune, to the country and to posterity. The cause of American Independence, moreover, was now to be presented to the world in such a manner, if it might so
- ↑ A facsimile of this ever-memorable state paper, as drafted by Mr. Jefferson, with the interlineations alluded to in the text, is contained in Mr. Jefferson's Writings, Vol. I. p. 146. See, also, in reference to the history of the Declaration, the Life and Works of John Adams, Vol. II. p. 512, et seq.
