"
Jefferson accordingly wrote the paper. Adams was delighted "with
its high tone and the flights of Oratory" but he did not approve
of the flaming attack on the King, as a tyrant. "I never
believed," he said, "George to be a tyrant in disposition and in
nature." There was, he thought, too much passion for a grave and
solemn document. He was, however, the principal speaker in its
support.
There is passion in the Declaration from beginning to end, and
not the restrained and chastened passion which we find in the
great utterances of an American statesman of a later day, Abraham
Lincoln. Compared with Lincoln, Jefferson is indeed a mere
amateur in the use of words. Lincoln would not have scattered in
his utterances overwrought phrases about "death, desolation and
tyranny" or talked about pledging "our lives, our fortunes and
our sacred honour." He indulged in no "Flights of Oratory." The
passion in the Declaration is concentrated against the King. We
do not know what were the emotions of George when he read it. We
know that many Englishmen thought that it spoke truth.
Exaggerations there are which make the Declaration less than a
completely candid document. The King is accused of abolishing
English laws in Canada with the intention of "introducing the
same absolute rule into these colonies.
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