- This topic has 4 voices and 2 replies.
-
Posts
-
In an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote the word "subjects," when he referred to the American public. He then erased that word and replaced it with "citizens," a term he used frequently throughout the final draft.
Must have been a mistake of habit.
It is my understanding that the distinction between subject and citizen was a lively debate among the framers of both the Declaration and the Constitution. The semantics of word choice and its implications have many ramifications. The distinction is much the same as the choice of the word Freedom instead of Liberty in the Bill of Rights. The word chosen has actually worked to intensify the debate about what the founders meant and thus we get cases before the Supreme Court in which it is possible to infringe on what many people see as rights. A freedom is as different from a liberty as a subject is from a citizen.Even now, people born in the UK are not citizens, they are subjects of the crown. It is a subtle yet profound difference, and one not often remarked upon.
It is my understanding that the distinction between subject and citizen was a lively debate among the framers... freedom is as different from a liberty as a subject is from a citizen.Even now, people born in the UK are not citizens, they are subjects of the crown. It is a subtle yet profound difference, and one not often remarked upon.
David Hackett Fischer makes the distinction well in his book Liberty and Freedom, a must read by my way of thinking. I mentioned it sometime back... the implication I see of Jefferson shifting from subject to citizen is our (implied) from freedom to liberty upon the creation of the new nation.
It is my understanding that the distinction between subject and citizen was a lively debate among the framers of both the Declaration and the Constitution.
Yeah, but isn't it strange that Jefferson would do this? I can see a Federalist doing it, because they probably felt that way anyway, but not Jefferson
