Most of us have probably studied the Declaration of Independence in school. Some of us may have even memorized it. Yet, many of you may not know the backstory of men behind the the Second Continental Congress.
A little-known fact (or maybe it is well-known and schools just omit this part) is that in order to get all of the colonies to agree on this document, every reference to slavery had to be deleted.
Historian Kenneth C. Davis who created the TED-Ed animation commented on how inappropriate it seemed to ignore a system where people owned others, while creating a document celebrating freedom and equality. It took a few decades before this issue was properly addressed, and by “addressed” we mean the lives of 620,000 American soldiers were lost settling the matter.
