Tag Archives: citizens versus subjects

Scientists at the Library of Congress have recently discovered that in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson referred to the residents of the colonies as subjects and not as citizens. However, based on the evidence, it appears that Jefferson almost immediately decided against using the word and wanted to hide any record of using it. He did so by smudging out the word while the ink was still wet and then carefully wrote the word citizens over it. (It is important to note that the sentence the word was used in never appeared in the final version, but Continue reading Jefferson’s First Draft: Subjects versus Citizens→