# Declaration of Independence - Other Drafts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041 "2023-01-11T16:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/1 "2023-01-11T16:03:35Z")
Are there any original drafts or notes that were used during the writing of the Declaration of Independence? Seems there MUST have been at least a 1st Draft and Final Draft or other writings or meeting notes about it? Something. Has something like that ever been found? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/2 "2023-01-11T16:07:41Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > Has something like that ever been found? Yes! I am aware of at least facet of the rough draft. Ben Franklin apparently changed “unalienable rights” of life, liberty, and happiness to “inalienable”. ETA: I also recall that, among the list of grievances against the king, a reference to promoting the slave trade was excised. [https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/rough.html](https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/rough.html) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/3 "2023-01-11T16:09:52Z")
If by draft you mean markups then here you go. > **[Drafting the U.S. Constitution](https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2022/09/12/drafting-the-u-s-constitution/)** > > September 17 is designated as Constitution Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. The National Archives is the home to the original, engrosse… “We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island…” etc. is really clunky and smacks of a 11th grade term paper. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/4 "2023-01-11T17:24:29Z")
> Blockquote > [@Moriarty](#): > > ETA: I also recall that, among the list of grievances against the king, a reference to promoting the slave trade was excised. > > [The Declaration of Independence: Rough Draft](https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/rough.html) Very cool. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/5 "2023-01-11T17:29:48Z")
The Declaration was actually drafted by a “committee of five”, so there was plenty of back and forth to be found regarding the words that were used. > **[Exhibition - Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents | Exhibitions -...](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/declara4.html)** > > The objects showcased all related to the momentous signing of the Declaration of Independence. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/6 "2023-01-11T17:54:38Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Ben Franklin apparently changed “unalienable rights” of life, liberty, and happiness to “inalienable”. Ben Franklin, the original nitpicking pedant. As @Moriarty noted, the document was drafted by multiple people. There was a “Committee of Five” responsible for drafting but the “Committee of the Whole” (essentially, the entire assembly of the Second Continental Congress) reviewed and revised. Since this is obviously in the pre-word processor era when “drafts” were handwritten copies, there were almost assuredly many different drafts circulating around with numerous edits and amendments, although general practice was to destroy intermediate drafts rather than to retain them as is the practice today. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/7 "2023-01-12T16:18:38Z")
Ben Franklin would fit right in here. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > although general practice was to destroy intermediate drafts rather than to retain them as is the practice today Scrap paper would have had many uses. How many butts were wiped by draft copies of the Declaration? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/declaration-of-independence-other-drafts/978041/8 "2023-01-13T03:11:09Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Ben Franklin apparently changed “unalienable rights” of life, liberty, and happiness to “inalienable”. I had heard (I think from the PBS documentary on Franklin) that his big contribution to that line was actually the phrase “self evident” to describe the truths (Jefferson had “sacred and undeniable”). Which is indeed a fancy rhetorical trick. How can one question a truth that is self-evident? And it neatly absolves the writer of the need to prove the claims made. Win-win.