America at 250:

The Greatness and the Contradiction of the Declaration of Independence

By Arthur Z. Schwartz

America was conceived in liberty and born in shackles. This is the “Great Contradiction” at the heart of our nation’s story.

In his book, In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, historian Kenneth Davis wrote, “The relationship between “slave shackles” and the Declaration of Independence represents one of history’s greatest contradictions: a nation born with the lofty promise of universal liberty built its foundational economy on the backs of enslaved people in physical bondage. Let’s be clear. American slavery was not a minor subplot in the American drama, but one of the central acts in its history. For many years, the long, tragic narrative of slavery’s destructive power and its cruel savagery were concealed in textbooks behind bland euphemisms, code words, and court rulings. Papered over with political rhetoric, most schoolbooks denied the harsh reality, or simply ignored the stark hypocrisy of what is called America’s original sin. At best, slavery was treated like the awkward family relation whose picture gets pulled from the family photo album.”

I started my grade school education in 1958 just as the Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King began to flicker. It was not until I took an AP History class in high school in 1968 that I read a book called Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life by historian Stanley M. Elkins. In this highly debated work, Elkins drew a comparison between the psychological impact of the antebellum American plantation and Nazi concentration camps. He argued that both were “closed systems” of absolute, arbitrary power that stripped individuals of their autonomy and infantilized them, creating a docile personality type among victims. Open public discussion about slavery reached its zenith when the TV series Roots followed the life and descendants of Kunta Kinte — who is captured in The Gambia and enslaved in the American South. The horrors of American slavery was taught in many schools but faded ─ other than a brief surge after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. And now, Donald Trump and his disciples in Florida, Texas, and too many other places, seek to stamp out such teaching. But the 250-year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence requires that we speak about it in this issue of Village View.

The Deletion of the Anti-Slavery Clause

Thomas Jefferson, himself an enslaver, originally included a fierce condemnation of the African slave trade in his draft of the Declaration of Independence. In the draft, he accused King George III of waging “cruel war against human nature itself” by violating the rights of enslaved people. However, this passage was struck out by the Second Continental Congress to secure the unity of the 13 colonies. Delegates from South Carolina and Georgia demanded its removal and several Northern delegates — whose economies profited from the shipping of enslaved people — agreed.

The Great Contradiction

Because of that deletion, the final document famously stated that “all men are created equal” while ignoring the brutal reality of slavery. (It also ignored women.) At the time enslaved people were held in shackles across all 13 colonies and at least 40 of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence were slave owners. The juxtaposition of the document’s parchment and iron slave shackles remains a stark reminder of early America’s hypocrisy.

An Instrument for Liberation

Despite the founders’ complicity, the principles of liberty and equality written in the Declaration became an ideological weapon to break those very shackles.

• Abolitionists: Figures like Frederick Douglass used the words of the Declaration in works like What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? to hold America accountable to its foundational promises.

• Abraham Lincoln: Used the Declaration’s promise of equality to anchor his anti-slavery campaigns and the push for the 13th Amendment.

• Civil Rights Leaders: Generations later, the text was famously invoked by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.

The principles of liberty and equality written in the Declaration will survive Donald Trump. And, hopefully, we will see another day like November 4, 2008, when a majority of white voters voted for Barack Obama.