ollowed by the direct proposition which
Richard Henry Lee had the honor to submit to Congress, by resolution, on
the 7th day of June. The published journal does not expressly state it,
but there is no doubt, I suppose, that this resolution was in the same
words when originally submitted by Mr. Lee, as when finally passed.
Having been discussed on Saturday, the 8th, and Monday, the 10th of
June, this resolution was on the last mentioned day postponed for
further consideration to the first day of July; and at the same time, it
was voted that a committee be appointed to prepare a Declaration to the
effect of the resolution. This committee was elected by ballot, on the
following day, and consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin
Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.

It is usual when committees are elected by ballot, that their members
are arranged in order, according to the number of votes which each has
received. Mr. Jefferson, therefore, had received the highest, and Mr.
Adams the next highest number of votes. The difference is said to have
been but of a single vote. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams, standing thus at
the head of the committee, were requested by the other members to act
as a sub-committee to prepare the draft; and Mr. Jefferson drew up
the paper. The original draft, as brought by him from his study, and
submitted to the other members of the committee, with interlineations in
the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, and others in that of Mr. Adams, was in
Mr. Jefferson's possession at the time of his death. The merit of this
paper is Mr. Jefferson's. Some changes were made in it on the suggestion
of other members of the committee, and others by congress while it was
under discussion. But none of them altered the tone, the frame,
the arrangement, or the general character of the instrument, As a
composition, the Declaration is Mr. Jefferson's. It is the production
of his mind, and the high honor of it belongs to him, clearly and
absolutely.

It has sometimes been said, as if it were a derogation from the merits
of this paper; that it contains nothing new; that it only states grounds
of proceeding, and presses topics of argument, which had often been
stated and pressed before. But it was not the object of the Declaration
to produce anything new. It was not to invent reasons for independence,
but to state those which governed the congress. For great and sufficient
causes it was proposed to declare i