In their effort to break away from the British Crown, the delegates gathered at the Continental Congress in early July 1776 had appointed a select committee to draw up a statement of their revolutionary purpose. To that end they were presented with a report, modestly titled a Declaration of Independence. Authored by the young Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, the report asserted that “We hold these truths to be self evident; that all Men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent & inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Jefferson then proceeded to enumerate a list of “injuries and usurpations” by the king of Great Britain against his colonial subjects in North America. Included in the list was a ringing indictment of the British Crown's support for the traffic in slaves between Africa and the New World.

Although they accepted – with some editorial changes – the bold rhetoric of the report, Jefferson's fellow delegates were not of a mind to endorse their young colleague's complaint about the slave trade.