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A Comparison Of Benjamin Franklin And John Adams 'Words Matter'

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A Comparison Of Benjamin Franklin And John Adams 'Words Matter'
People are taught In a society the most "paramount" events in recorded human history, yet knowing the smallest details of history could just be the thing that could set you aside from the people in your caliber of learning. On average, we learn another event in history every time we step into a history classroom, however no one teaches us about the mistakes and re-writes of the most chief document of American history. Before I read the article "Words Matter" I was unaware that the the Declaration of Independence had a few words changed and erased from the document. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams helped revise the Declaration of Independence, part of the revisions included handwritten corrections from Franklin and Adams. As stated by Fenella France "It appeared as Jefferson wrote "subjects" with the customary ink-dipped quill and then used his hand to wipe out the word while the ink was still wet. He then wrote "citizens" instead. A distinct brown smudge is apparent on the paper, although the word "subjects" is not legible without the help of the digital …show more content…

The Primary source "Excerpt from the Stamp Act of 1765" states "In the 1760s, many of the American colonists were beginning to think of themselves as the "subjects" of no one. The Stamp Act was one of several events that reinforced this yearning to be independent and led directly to the writing of the Declaration of Independence." Had Jefferson wrote subjects rather than citizens, the reaction of the peoples of the Colony or the Course of history may have changed due to a minor error being skimmed over and ignored. Taking this into consideration, paying attention to small details could change the outcome of a chain of events or one event. Learning about these small details in history can prevent us from potentially making the mistakes our predecessors nearly

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