Although my fellow Virginians are loathe to admit it, it was not Thomas Jefferson's cool phrasings that won our independence from England - he did not hit a home run in front of Simon Cowell. One thing we've lost our perspective on is that the power of the Declaration of Independence was the message itself, not the language. Seriously, do you think that Brits curled themselves up with copies of this thing and followed TJ on tour, smoking dope and dropping LSD? Yes, Jefferson did a great job. His prose, and many of his lines have become part of Americana itself. But. You must first ask yourself: why, in such a serious moment, such a serious time (don't forget, King George had carefully reminded these men that their punishment would be, TA-DA!!...HANGING), would the Continenetal Congress trust it's intentions in the hands of the second-youngest delgate available? I'm sorry, but the task was given to a 5-man committee, of which two members were John Adams and Ben Franklin. Yes, Adams famously told Jefferson to write it since he himself was so unpopular. But...you have Ben Franklin? And John Adams? And you decide that...Thomas Jefferson should write the document? Isn't that like asking Ringo to write 'A Day in the Life'? I'm sorry, but it is...
Jefferson was chosen to write the document because 1) his very presence was not inflamnatory and 2) it didn't matter anyway. The order to produce such a document was WAY more important than how well it was written; do you think any one of the Continental Congressman heard a word they said on July 4, 1776? No. We act as if the world was swayed by the words -as if had Jefferson fouled up, we would not be free. Guess what. Based on the original idea, TJ coulda written "hey, we're outta here mofos!" and the message woulda been the same. Believe the message, not the note: there's a reason Thomas Jefferson was more impressed with founding the University of Virginia than he was by writing the Declaration of Independence.
1 comment:
Xmastime, our little matter of mispronunciation notwithstanding, and I do believe you ARE from the South; why sir, are you not making use of your talents in the area of education, perhaps teaching eighth grade history?
Interesting post! Curious about the points you made I researched the topic and this is what I found out:
"Thomas Jefferson had a theory about self governance and the rights of people who established habitat in new lands. Before attending the Congress in Philadelphia he codified these thoughts in an article called A Summary View of the Rights of British America. This paper he sent on ahead of him. He fell ill on the road and was delayed for several days. By the time he arrived, his paper had been published as a pamphlet and sent throughout the colonies and on to England where Edmund Burke, sympathetic to the colonial condition, had it reprinted and circulated widely. In 1776 Jefferson, then a member of the committee to draft a declaration of independence, was chosen by the committee to write the draft. This he did, with some minor corrections from James Madison and an embellishment from Franklin, the document was offered to the Congress on the first day of July. The congress modified it somewhat, abbreviating certain wording and removing points that were outside of general agreement. The Declaration was adopted on the Fourth of July."
www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/jefferson.htm
Post a Comment