In an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote a word and then carefully expunged it, smearing the ink and overwriting it so as to completely obliterate the original. Using spectral imaging technology in 2010, Library of Congress researchers revealed that Jefferson had changed the word “subjects” to “citizens,” revealing an important shift in the Founders’ thinking: the people’s allegiance was to one another, not to a distant king.
Posted by arrangement with the Kettering Foundation. Home page image: “Caveman Chuck” Coker.
