Colonial America witnessed a dramatic expansion of political liberty. New England town meetings and assemblies such as the Virginia House of Burgesses gave white men an opportunity to participate in public life. At the same time, Enlightened thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson accepted John Locke’s argument that every person was entitled to enjoy natural rights that included life, liberty, and property.
However, the enjoyment of liberty coexisted with the simultaneous expansion of slavery. Between 1700 and 1775, enslaved Africans comprised just under half of the 585,000 persons who arrived in colonial America. The presence of slavery in a land dedicated to promoting liberty posed a deep contradiction that would not be resolved until the Civil War.
The Declaration of Independence
Jefferson opened the Declaration of Independence with a concise and compelling statement of principles and self-evident truths. Inspired by John Locke’s philosophy of natural rights, Jefferson asserted that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The governed are entitled to “alter or abolish” their ties too a government that denies them their “unalienable rights” to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The Declaration of Independence created a new American identity by transforming a debate over taxes into a fight for independence. By helping to generate a new national identity, the Declaration decisively answered what John Adams called “the greatest question” of the day. The impact of Jefferson’s words accomplished more than justifying a war for political independence – they also proclaimed broad “self-evident” truths that became an enduring expression of America’s founding principles and goals.
“An execrable commerce”
The Declaration of Independence did not have an immediate impact upon the condition of enslaved Africans. Jefferson’s original draft did contain a clause condemning the slave trade. Jefferson blamed King George III for forcing the transatlantic slave trade onto the colonies. He described slavery as a “cruel war against human nature” and “an execrable commerce.” He further accused the king of keeping local slave markets open and blocking colonial laws meant to end or limit the slave trade.
Delegates from Georgia and South Carolina strongly objected to Jefferson’s anti-slavery language. In addition, northern delegates where merchants profited from the slave trade also wanted the critical passages removed. The Continental Congress needed a unanimous vote for independence. As a result, the delegates edited out the anti-slavery passages to avoid unnecessary controversy.
The harsh reality of slavery thus contradicted Jefferson’s eloquent expression of republican ideals. Although not originally fulfilled, Jefferson’s stirring statement that “all men are created equal”created a language of freedom that became an inspiring part of the American dream.
So why should you remember the language of liberty and the presence of slavery? APUSH test writers expect you to understand the implications of America’s principle of liberty. It is important to point out that that the language of liberty did not fall upon deaf ears in the North. Motivated by political and religious opposition to slavery, Mid-Atlantic and New England states initiated a “First Emancipation” by enacting laws eliminating slavery.
The Continental Congress further underscored the growing antislavery sentiment in the North. Passed in 1787, the Northwest Ordinance contained the spread of slavery by prohibiting it in the territories comprising the Old Northwest. As a result, slavery rapidly became identified as a distinctive Southern institution.