Post by bradwatsonmiami on Jul 5, 2021 11:25:35 GMT -5
It's commonly believed that Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence because he was the best writer on the Committee of Five. Better than Benjamin Franklin?! No. It's also commonly accepted that Franklin didn't write the Declaration because he was ill. Too ill to write? No.
Franklin edited Jefferson's draft by changing "sacred" to "self-evident". The Declaration included a clause to abolish slavery. Of course, when the Declaration was first read to the assemled Continental Congress on July 2, the abolishing slavery clause was immediately deleted. Franklin knew it would be, but he thought it would have a better chance if Jefferson - a Virginian plantation and slave owner - wrote it.
Dr. Franklin was the most outspoken abolitionist among the Founding Fathers. In 1787, he became president of the first Abolition Society in the United States. The last official act that Franklin performed was to submit a bill to Congress to abolish slavery on February 12, 1790. Exactly 19 years later (metonic cycle), Abraham Lincoln was born. Franklin as a life-long Grand Master Mason and scientist believed in reincarnation based on "energy is neither created or destroyed, although it can be transformed/transferred".
Franklin edited Jefferson's draft by changing "sacred" to "self-evident". The Declaration included a clause to abolish slavery. Of course, when the Declaration was first read to the assemled Continental Congress on July 2, the abolishing slavery clause was immediately deleted. Franklin knew it would be, but he thought it would have a better chance if Jefferson - a Virginian plantation and slave owner - wrote it.
Dr. Franklin was the most outspoken abolitionist among the Founding Fathers. In 1787, he became president of the first Abolition Society in the United States. The last official act that Franklin performed was to submit a bill to Congress to abolish slavery on February 12, 1790. Exactly 19 years later (metonic cycle), Abraham Lincoln was born. Franklin as a life-long Grand Master Mason and scientist believed in reincarnation based on "energy is neither created or destroyed, although it can be transformed/transferred".