In this document, Thomas Jefferson recalls how the Continental Congress decided to declare independence and discusses why certain passages were deleted from his draft of the document. Some delegates demanded eliminating language that harshly condemned the British people, fearing that it might offend potential allies. Slaveholding delegates from South Carolina and Georgia demanded the removal of a paragraph condemning slavery and the slave trade. Jefferson felt Northern delegates agreed to it since they benefited from the trade.
Declaration of Independence 
