The Final Grievance
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Jefferson uses charged language in the final grievance listed in the Declaration of Independence.
Exploiting Congress’s fears of slave uprisings and war with native people, Jefferson uses charged language in the final grievance listed in the Declaration of Independence.
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Episodes presented in 4K UHD on supported devices. Corporate funding for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by The Better Angels Society and...
The Final Grievance
Clip: Special | 1m 24sVideo has Closed Captions
Exploiting Congress’s fears of slave uprisings and war with native people, Jefferson uses charged language in the final grievance listed in the Declaration of Independence.
From
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[Thunder] Dunmore's Proclamation had deepened fears of slave uprisings, and reports that the governor of Canada had enlisted Native people to resist the invasion there further inflamed Congress.
In the 18th and final charge against the King, Jefferson did all he could to exploit their fury.
Voice: He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
[Thomas Jefferson] Narrator: Proclaiming the equality of "all men" was a genuinely revolutionary idea, but that equality was not yet extended to Native Americans, enslaved or free Blacks, the poor, or any woman.
Jefferson's original list of "injuries" had also included the charge that George III was somehow responsible for the Atlantic slave trade.
He called it "cruel war against human nature itself."
The other delegates refused to adopt that charge.
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Episodes presented in 4K UHD on supported devices. Corporate funding for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by The Better Angels Society and...