Slaveholding Signers and the Political Economy of Freedom

Introduction

The Declaration of Independence proclaims that “all men are created equal,” yet many of its signers enslaved human beings. This contradiction is not incidental—it is foundational. To truly understand the nature of the liberty declared in 1776, one must confront the economic and social structures that made it possible.  

This page explores how slavery and property interests shaped both the ideology and the political motives of key signers. It does not seek to judge them by modern standards, but to expose what their words deliberately concealed: that the very freedom they declared depended on the continued enslavement of others.

The Numbers Behind the Signers

Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence:

• At least 41 were enslavers, including prominent figures such as Thomas Jefferson (Virginia), who enslaved over 600 people in his lifetime. Other notable enslavers included George Wythe, Benjamin Harrison, Richard Henry Lee, and Edward Rutledge.

• The largest slaveholding states—Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Maryland—supplied a disproportionately high number of signers.

• In Jefferson’s original draft, he criticized the British king for encouraging the transatlantic slave trade. This clause was ultimately deleted at the request of slaveholding delegates.

(Source: Jefferson’s Rough Draft, Library of Congress)  

Slavery was not a marginal institution. It was deeply embedded in the social identity and wealth of the American elite. These men demanded freedom for themselves while actively denying it to others.  

“Liberty” as Property Protection

In 1776, liberty was defined less as universal freedom and more as the right to protect one’s property from outside interference—whether from the British Crown or from potential democratic redistribution. This “property” included land, goods, and people.

• For wealthy southern planters, British taxes and trade restrictions threatened their ability to profit from enslaved labor.

• Many feared growing anti-slavery sentiment in Britain, especially following Lord Mansfield’s 1772 decision in Somerset v. Stewart, which effectively made slavery unenforceable on English soil.

• Declaring independence allowed colonial elites to escape both royal taxation and the potential pressure for emancipation.

Thus, for many signers, independence was a safeguard against abolition, not a step toward it.

The Political Power of the Slave Economy

Slavery was not only an economic system; it was a political power base.  

• Enslaved populations were counted (in part) toward representation under later constitutional rules—the infamous Three-Fifths Compromise—but this logic already shaped political structures in 1776.  

• Slaveholding regions demanded more influence and autonomy, and the Revolution gave them leverage to shape a new nation on their terms.

• Independence created a federal framework in which slavery could expand westward, unchecked by British restrictions like the Proclamation Line of 1763, which had limited colonial expansion into Indigenous lands.

By severing ties with Britain, the founding generation ensured that slavery would remain central to the American economy for another century.

Language That Conceals

The Declaration never mentions slavery. It speaks of “liberty,” “rights,” and “tyranny,” but avoids naming the enslaved. Instead:  

• Freedom is framed as a natural entitlement, yet denied to those who were legally defined as property.

• The moral vocabulary of the Enlightenment is used selectively—to elevate the status of white colonial elites while silencing the voices of those in bondage.

• In doing so, the document universalizes a partial experience, presenting it as the shared truth of all people.

This silence is not neutral. It is a deliberate erasure.

Conclusion: A Freedom Built on Unfreedom

The Declaration of Independence is a masterwork of political rhetoric. But beneath its soaring language lies a reality both darker and more complex: a society that claimed liberty while practicing slavery; that celebrated equality while enforcing human ownership.

To understand American founding ideals honestly, one must begin by asking:

Freedom for whom?

At what cost?

And who was never meant to be included?