Everyone an editor

Image of first page of Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence with edits.

It was Franklin who changed Jefferson’s original “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable” to “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” You can see Franklin’s cross-outs on the draft.

Jefferson thought the much more extensive changes made to his draft by the Continental Congress on July 3rd and 4th were “mutilations.”