While Thomas Jefferson was just one of many delegates who signed their name to the American Declaration of Independence, he is remembered as the primary drafter of the document. With continued significance, the Declaration has become a record, both of colonial feelings during the era of the Revolution and of Jefferson himself. A highly astute and educated man, Jefferson incorporated numerous ideological influences throughout his writing. This leads to questioning of not only who impacted the Declaration’s writing, but to what degree each specific source’s influence had on Jefferson while creating the overall document.
Though, any discussion of influences on the final draft of the Declaration would be well served to examine the role of Jefferson’s …show more content…
Published just a few months before Jefferson began working on the Declaration, it was doubtlessly read by the members of the Continental Congress. The documents popularity, arguably helped propel many of the ideas driving the Colonies toward independence rather than resolution with Britain. Of particular note is Paine’s thoughts on the corruption he saw within the British monarchy and parliament. As if a call for the colonists to reconsider the current governmental system, Paine hypothesised that “if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies” These ideas within Paine’s work made him well known within the Americas, and would have likely had some influence on Jefferson’s own thoughts, perhaps less as inspiration, but as another contemporary voice that embodied the thoughts of the …show more content…
Even before beginning his first draft, Jefferson’s previous writing already reflecting this parallel between Locke’s ideas of monarchy and tyranny, to that of the colonial experience. For instance, Jefferson wrote in 1774 that, “single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day: but a series of oppressions...too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.” This connection between the authority of monarchy to that of a tyrannical rule is an overarching idea within the Declaration, and it is more than likely that Jefferson drew inspiration directly from Locke’s
Though, any discussion of influences on the final draft of the Declaration would be well served to examine the role of Jefferson’s …show more content…
Published just a few months before Jefferson began working on the Declaration, it was doubtlessly read by the members of the Continental Congress. The documents popularity, arguably helped propel many of the ideas driving the Colonies toward independence rather than resolution with Britain. Of particular note is Paine’s thoughts on the corruption he saw within the British monarchy and parliament. As if a call for the colonists to reconsider the current governmental system, Paine hypothesised that “if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies” These ideas within Paine’s work made him well known within the Americas, and would have likely had some influence on Jefferson’s own thoughts, perhaps less as inspiration, but as another contemporary voice that embodied the thoughts of the …show more content…
Even before beginning his first draft, Jefferson’s previous writing already reflecting this parallel between Locke’s ideas of monarchy and tyranny, to that of the colonial experience. For instance, Jefferson wrote in 1774 that, “single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day: but a series of oppressions...too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.” This connection between the authority of monarchy to that of a tyrannical rule is an overarching idea within the Declaration, and it is more than likely that Jefferson drew inspiration directly from Locke’s