It's unfortunate that Jefferson still gets practically sole credit for the Declaration itself. Benjamin Franklin was critical in his guidance and dozens of revisions to Jefferson's draft to make the final document what it is. Franklin's input was the result of already over 20 years of tirelessly fighting for the idea of uniting the colonies, and arguing for the principles underlying a liberty worth dying for.
Not to mention, Franklin was more consistently in alignment with Natural Law as an abolitionist, in contrast to slaveowning Jefferson. Jefferson wanted Locke's ideal of "property" instead of Franklin's higher Leibnizian ideal of "Pursuit of Happiness", since for Jefferson to ultimatize the right to property would safeguard gentleman landowners like himself who enslaved other humans as additional property to maintain their land property. Thank God Franklin won out on that one.
It's unfortunate that Jefferson still gets practically sole credit for the Declaration itself. Benjamin Franklin was critical in his guidance and dozens of revisions to Jefferson's draft to make the final document what it is. Franklin's input was the result of already over 20 years of tirelessly fighting for the idea of uniting the colonies, and arguing for the principles underlying a liberty worth dying for.
Not to mention, Franklin was more consistently in alignment with Natural Law as an abolitionist, in contrast to slaveowning Jefferson. Jefferson wanted Locke's ideal of "property" instead of Franklin's higher Leibnizian ideal of "Pursuit of Happiness", since for Jefferson to ultimatize the right to property would safeguard gentleman landowners like himself who enslaved other humans as additional property to maintain their land property. Thank God Franklin won out on that one.