The Slavery Clause by Joseph Lewis If no other evidence were in existence that Thomas Paine was the author of The Declaration of Independence, and if we were to ignore completely the evidence already producedÑmore of which is to followÑthe Slavery Clause in the original draft of The Declaration of Independence would alone be sufficient evidence to justify the claim to his authorship of that immortal document. And at the same time, the elimination of that Clause from the final draft of the Declaration more than justifies the conclusion that Thomas Jefferson could not have been the writer of it. The Slavery Clause was not put into the Declaration to be taken out. It was not a catch phrase. It was not a piece of political bait. It was written by one whose soul was aflame with the fire of indignation. It struck deep into the heart of one of the greatest evils that afflicted society, and it was written to cure that evil forever among men who considered themselves civilized. It was meant to proclaim to the world that Man had no property right in Man. The Declaration of Independence, as originally written, could not be the great fundamental Charter of Human Freedom it was intended to be, if the Slavery Clause were omitted! And if Thomas Jefferson were the author of the phrase "all men are created equal and independent . . ." and possess "rights inherent and unalienable . . ." he never would have permitted the Slavery Clause to be eliminated regardless of the opposition arrayed against it. By permitting the elimination of this clause, the Declaration became a mutilated document, and only the precious blood spilled in the Civil War, and the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of men, finally restored it to its original grandeur as an eternal monument to the equality of man. Only one man in America at that time looked upon slavery as the most abhorrent institution that existed in society, a violation of all human rights, and who sought to abolish it. This was the "ingenious worthy young man" whom Franklin had urged to go to America and to whom he had given a letter of introduction. The horror and brutality of slavery affected him so that it was indelibly impressed upon his heart. So strongly did he feel this great evil, that it was the subject of one of his first articles which appeared in public print soon after he had landed upon these shores in the latter part of 1774. Thus began the campaign in this country for the abolition of Negro slavery. His was the first voice raised upon the American Continent in behalf of these defenseless people. Thomas Paine saw an opportunity to emancipate the enslaved Negro at the same time American Independence was won, and that was why the Slavery Clause was made an important part of The Declaration of Independence! Paine's first article was entitled, "An Essay on African Slavery in America," and it appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal, March 8th, 1775. In this article appears not only every sentiment and every argument, but almost the same words of the Slavery Clause that appear in the original draft of The Declaration of Independence. They are so nearly alike in phrase, thought, expression, and composition that it is impossible for any but the one mind and brain to have been the author of both, despite the fact that one is an argument and a plea, and the other a manifesto of that plea. It is significant to remember that this article was not signed by Thomas Paine. Knowing the opposition he would surely encounter, he was not yet ready to reveal that he was the author, for fear that his recent arrival in this country might destroy the effectiveness of his labors and injure the cause that had so stirred his soul. He concluded the article with these words: "These are the sentiments of Justice and Humanity." And it was quite some time after the article had been publicly discussed and lauded that Paine finally acknowledged his authorship of it. No less a person of that time than the eminent Dr. Benjamin Rush said of Paine's Essay on Slavery: "It excited my desire to be better acquainted with him. We met soon afterwards in Mr. Aitkin's bookstore, where I did homage to his principles and pen upon the subject of the enslaved Africans." Shortly after the appearance of this Essay, the first American Anti-Slavery Society was organized. It was founded in Philadelphia in the Sun Tavern on Second Street in April, 1775, under the title of "The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes, Unlawfully Held in Bondage." There is little doubt that Paine, if not the founder of this organization, was at least one of its prominent members, and as this society became the first organized effort for the immediate abolition of Negro slavery in this country, the honor of being the first American Abolitionist belongs to Thomas Paine. In view of these preliminary facts and in the absence of any such sentiments, acts or articles in behalf of Negro slavery ever being associated with Thomas Jefferson, we will proceed to an examination of this important Slavery Clause of The Declaration of Independence by a comparison with Thomas Paine's plea for the Abolition of Negro Slavery. Extract From the Essay on African Slavery in America That some desperate wretches should be willing to steal and enslave men by violence and murder for gain is rather lamentable than strange. These inoffensive people are brought into slavery, by stealing them, tempting Kings to sell subjects, which they can have no right to do, and hiring one tribe to war against another, in order to catch prisoners Our traders in men (an unnatural commodity!) must know the wickedness of that slave trade, if they attend to reasoning, or the dictates of their own hearts; and such as shun and stifle all these, willfully sacrifice Conscience, and the character of integrity to that golden Idol. . . . to go to nations . . . purely to catch inoffensive people, like wild beasts, for slaves, is an hight of outrage against Humanity and Justice, that seems left by Heathen nations to be practised by pretended Christians. How shameful are all attempts to colour and excuse it! Paragraphs Deleted from the Declaration of Independence, as they Appear in the Adams Copy He has waged cruel War against human Nature itself, violating its most Sacred Rights of Life and Liberty in the Persons of a distant People who never offended him, captivating and carrying Them into Slavery in another Hemisphere, or to incur miserable Death in their Transportation thither. This piratical Warfare, the opprobrium of Infidel Powers, is the Warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. He has prostituted his Negative for Suppressing every legislative Attempt to prohibit or to restrain an execrable Commerce, determined to keep open a Market where MEN Should be bought and Sold, and that this assemblage of Horrors might Want no Fact of distinguished Die . . . he is now exciting those very People to rise in Arms among us, and to purchase that Liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the People upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former Crimes committed against the Liberties of one People, with Crimes which he urges them to commit against the Lives of another. From Common Sense There are thousands . . . who would think it glorious to expel from the Continent, that barbarous and hellish power, which hath stirred up the Indians and the Negroes to destroy us; the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them. Can anyone doubt for a moment, after reading the text of the Essay on Slavery and the Slavery Clause in The Declaration of Independence, that they are the product of the same mind and the same author? They are as alike as an image and its reflection. The very words themselves seem to echo each other. They are as identifiable as one's own fingerprints, and no magnifying glass is needed to prove their outlines. They stand out in bold relief to the naked eye. I have made a painstaking examination of Jefferson's writings from before the appearance of Paine's Essay on Slavery in March, 1775, and the publication of Common Sense in 1776, up to the time the Declaration was submitted to the Committee appointed to draw it up on June 28th, 1776, and I cannot find a single instance showing that the Slavery Clause was a reflection of the thoughts and sentiments of Thomas Jefferson, the other members of the Committee, or anyone else in America at that time other than Thomas Paine. In all the writings of Thomas Jefferson not a single paragraph appears that even remotely resembles the sentiments, the style of writing, the mode of expression, or the manner of composition appearing in the Slavery Clause of the Declaration. Professor Carl Becker is forced to admit that the language of the Slavery Clause "introduces the wholly incongruous note of snarling sarcasm," and is unlike Jefferson because it speaks with derision of the "CHRISTIAN King of Great Britain," reminding him for all the world of Shylock's retort, "these be the Christian husbands." And why not? Despite Becker's condemnation, that was the intended meaning of these words. Yes, "snarling sarcasm" was necessary to condemn the man responsible for the horrors and injustices of slavery. And such snarling sarcasm could have been written only by one stirred to burning indignation by the existence of this abhorrent institutionÑas was Thomas Paine. Becker further states that the language of the Declaration ". . . in both form and substance is characterized by a peculiar felicity," but hastens to admit that "the peculiar felicity was Jefferson's only so far as it was peculiar." However, that "peculiar felicity" of expression abounds throughout Paine's writings and is typical of his inimitable style. This, too, we shall prove. Thomas Jefferson himself said that Paine's style of writing was "most perfect in both extremes of the simple and the sublime," and that "no writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming language." And W. E. Woodward was so struck by Paine's forceful literary style that he said: "Observe the simplicity of Paine's style; it was one of his most outstanding literary characteristics. In that era it stood out like a white wall on a brown hillside, for the writers of the time took pride in presenting their ideas in tortuous, involved sentences." Certainly this "snarling sarcasm" was not Jefferson's ideas and sentiments. He rarely referred to the King of England except as "His Majesty," while the opinion of the King of England as expressed in the Slavery Clause is found again and again in the pages of Common Sense! Paine wrote: ". . . I rejected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England for ever, and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul." He calls the King of England ". . . the Royal Brute of Great Britain," and says that "the naked and untutored Indian, is less Savage than the King of Britain." And that "ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and warn him of eternal ruin." Certainly in all of Jefferson's writings he does not express any similar opinions about the King of Britain. Professor Becker then proceeds to characterize the Declaration both "in form and substance" as possessing the virtues of "simplicity, clarity, logical order...." If one were to analyze Common Sense, it could not be described more perfectly than in the above words. There is almost an apology for Jefferson in the words of Becker when he says, "Jefferson touches the emotions as little in other parts of the Declaration as in the philippic against slavery." On the contrary. The whole Declaration is one great and grand emotional outburst against all forms of tyranny and in behalf of Freedom. If ever a document fairly bristled with emotion, it is The Declaration of Independence. It is typical of all of Paine's writings. Here are Paine's own words of what motivated his writings: "What I write is pure nature, and my pen and soul have ever gone together.... I have never courted fame or interest, and my manner of life, to those who know it, will justify what I say. My study is to be useful . . ." The Declaration of Independence is a document of emotional indignation, because it is a document of conviction. It is a masterpiece of sustained power and vigor and courage. It is a manifesto of Freedom for all peoples. A Declaration that "we fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in." Paine was right. "Had it not been for America, there had been no such thing as freedom left throughout the whole universe." Do not the following passages from the Declaration bristle with emotion, as equally as the philippic against slavery exhibits snarling sarcasm? "The History of his present Majesty, is a History, of unremitting injuries and Usurpations, among which no one Fact Stands Single or Solitary to contradict the Uniform Tenor of the rest, all of which have in direct object, the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People."He is at this Time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of death, Desolation and Tyranny, already begun with Circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation." And still there is more evidence besides these comparisons of sentiments and language to prove that the Slavery Clause is the work of Thomas Paine. You will recall how important the Forester Letters were in showing Paine's direct contact with the members of the Committee before the announcement of the Declaration, and the arguments he had presented for Independence when there was still serious opposition to it. Now we find in those same letters another significant piece of testimony indicating that Paine was aware of the opposition to the proposed emancipation of Negro slaves at the same time that American Independence was proclaimed. The principles embodied in Common Sense had been accepted, and now his final plea was for the Negro slaves. That accounts for the significant inference which Paine makes in his appeal "TO THE PEOPLE" in the third of his Forester Letters. In this letter he pleads that NOW is the time to lay the firm foundation for a real government; that NOW is the time to correct all mistakes, and provide justice for all. These letters were written not only to answer all opposition to Independence, particularly those of Cato and Plain Truth, but also to resolve the opposition of those members of the Continental Congress who were too timid to make a clean and complete break with the British Crown, and to start a new government based upon the principles of real Justice and Freedom. So logical and unanswerable were Paine's words that by merely putting the question he gave the answer. He asked: "Can America be happy under a government of her own? The answer is short and simple, viz., As happy as she pleases, she hath a blank sheet to write upon." Could anything be plainer? "Start the slate afresh," he tells America. Leave no mark of Injustice upon it. And as a further warning, because he knew that sooner or later it would have to be done, he continued his admonition by shouting: "Put it not off too long." Put not what off too long? "Forget not the hapless African," he cried. Let us recall these words from Common Sense: "Now is the seedtime of Continental union, faith and honour. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound would enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters." What a prophetic statement, and what tragic results have followed the ignoring of it! Was not slavery at that time like "a point of a pin upon the tender rind of a young oak?" And did it not "enlarge with the tree," and did not "posterity read it in full grown characters" until it became a menace to our own liberty and freedom? When will man learn that it is better to correct a mistake while it is still a small matter, instead of waiting until precious blood must be spilled to wipe out its injury and horror and atone for the misery unnecessarily suffered?"Put it not off too long. Forget not the hapless African." It was necessary to fight the Civil War with all its horrors and bloodshed to blot out this terrible stain on the "blank sheet" upon which America started to write. If only the Slavery Clause had remained in the Declaration as Paine originally wrote it! Excerpt from Thomas Paine Author of the Declaration of Independence by Joseph Lewis