The Declaration of Independence Home Page
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The American Declaration of Independence has been celebrated
and esteemed all over the world, but few people know the history
of the document's authorship. All those famous lines and passages
such as -- "We hold these truths self-evident" -- were
not always as they appear in the Declaration with which we are
familiar. The Declaration was a work of collaborative authorship
which evolved through three stages. This Home Page's objective
is to demonstrate the evolution of The Declaration of Independence
and the effect of collaborative authorship on the document's creation.
To achieve this goal, the three drafts of the Declaration are
available in a standard linear form and in a hypertextual form.
The hypertext
Declaration provides
links that allow you to visualize the changes as they occurred.
The Evolution of Authorship:
A Guided Tour of the Evolution of the Declaration:
(The Hypertext Version of the Declaration allows readers to
follow selected changes made to the Declaration. Commentary on
the possible reasons for many of the changes is provided. While
all the changes are not presented here, the changes selected will
highlight how the changes in context
influenced the evolution of
the final document.)
Passages Changed or Removed from Jefferson's Draft By Congress:
Passage on Slavery
Passage on the King
Parliament's Deaf Ear
Argument for New Government
Congress's Revision of the Closing
The Declaration Home Page is provided by:
The Declaration Home Page and all its Commentary are the work
of D.J. Mason
