9781422287453

38 The Declaration of Independence: Forming a New Nation

would inspire Washington’s men at the Battle of Trenton, said a “slave, who is proper owner of his freedom, has the right to reclaim it, however often sold.” Benjamin Franklin was another opponent of slavery. Following the War for Independence, Franklin was a founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. On February 12, 1790—just a few weeks before his death— Franklin signed a petition submitted to Congress, calling for the federal government to outlaw slavery. By the time the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, most of the nations of the world had out- lawed slavery. Even England ended slavery in 1772. Jefferson made a statement against slavery in his orig- inal draft of the Declaration. He accused King George of permitting slaves to be introduced into the colonies. He called slavery “a cruel war against human nature itself and violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty.”

The delegates from the southern colonies of South Carolina and Georgia object- ed. Fearing those delegates would walk out of the con- vention, and that the vote for independence would not be unanimous, Jefferson agreed to take the words regarding slavery out of the declaration.

Make Connections The bell that summoned Philadelphians to the

public square in front of the State House on July 8, 1776, to hear the first reading of the dec- laration was eventually adopted by people who opposed slavery. An Abolitionist pamphlet pub- lished in 1839 first referred to the bell as the “Liberty Bell.”