Pennsylvania’s 1776 declaration anticipated the national Declaration’s structure

Evidence

Acting a week later in the name of “the people” even though not actually elected, the conference approved a “Declaration” on independence. It accused King George III of “an Accumulation of Oppressions unparalleled in History” from excluding colonists “from his Protection” through hiring “Foreign Troops to assist in enslaving” them to exciting “the Negroes to embrue their Hands in the Blood of their masters.” — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 184

Categorization

• XREF: The Pennsylvania conference Declaration, drafted weeks before Jefferson’s, is a near-dress rehearsal of the national Declaration’s grievance catalogue — including Dunmore’s emancipation proclamation as a charge, connecting to ch2’s note. — connects to: The Declaration’s tri-part structure came from the Virginia Constitution and rights declaration. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 209
• SEED: Angle: the Pennsylvania Declaration and other colony-level pre-declarations were Jefferson’s actual drafts — a ‘first drafts of independence’ essay comparing the colony declarations that preceded and shaped the national one.
• QUESTION: Whether Jefferson drew directly on this Pennsylvania Declaration when composing his own draft is worth chasing.