gress approved Jefferson's letter to North. Jefferson took a leading part in the Continental Congress. After the Revolutionary War began, he was asked to draft a "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms." The Congress found this declaration "too strong." The more moderate John Dickinson drafted a substitute, which included much of Jefferson's original version. (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1683/ljindex.htm)During the spring of 1776, sentiment rapidly grew stronger in favor of independence. On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced his famous resolution that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." Congress appointed a committee to draw up a declaration of independence. On the committee were Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. The committee unanimously asked Jefferson to prepare the draft and approved it with few changes. Congress began debating the declaration on July 2 and adopted it on July 4. The members of Congress made some changes, but, as Richard Lee said: "the Thing in its nature is so good that no cookery can spoil the dish for the palates of freemen." The Declaration of Independence remains Jefferson's best-known work. It set forth with moving eloquence, supported by strong legal argument, the position of the American revolutionaries. It affirmed belief in the natural rights of all people. Few of the ideas were new. Jefferson said his object was "to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent ... Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind. (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1683/ljindex.htm) Jefferson's most important contributions in his later years were probably in the field of education. As a ...
