by Jerry Curtis

Created on: August 17, 2009

Thomas Jefferson wrote his own tombstone inscription: "...Author of the Declaration of American Independence, (and) of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom..." He would allow nothing more to be inscribed, which indicated that he regarded both those achievements more significant than his two terms as a President. Thomas Jefferson proudest achievements, then, were his writings. From his pen flowed two documents that are foundation of our country's political philosophy: our independence and religious freedoms.

Thomas Jefferson was elected to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1776. His writing credentials preceded him, having authored a widely read political pamphlet, "A summary View of the Rights of British America." (In the pamphlet Jefferson argued that the colonists' allegiance to the British Crown was strictly voluntary: "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time...") So Jefferson was appointed to head a committee of five men, whose job it was to come up with a proclamation demanding independence from Great Britain.

Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, though his first draft was changed both in style and substance after he consulted with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Also his references to the voluntary allegiance to the Crown (redundant) and the politically indictment of the British for introducing slavery to the New World (politically unpopular in the South) were struck out. But his many allusions to the "natural rights" theory of his previous Summary View remained intact and are the most famous parts of the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence made Jefferson internationally famous. The document was also the galvanizing symbol that appealed to republican ideals and the rebellious nature of colonists who felt their rights as British subjects were violated. First reflecting Enlightenment views ("that all men are created equal, etc.),

The document then switches gears. The second part enumerates a list of complaints against King George III. In the summer of 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to all Continental Army troops in the field. The complaints against the king were the 18th Century equivalent of the World War II training film for soldiers called "Why We Fight."

Jefferson, himself, did not fight in the war. Jefferson's service and leadership were principally on the home front as a Virginia politician in the House of Delegates,

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