Mr. Jefferson. Good evening, Mr. Adams.
Mr. Adams. Well, have you the Declaration finished?
Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams, I have done the best I could but I am not very well satisfied with what I have written. I wish you would look it over and make such corrections and criticisms as your judgment deems proper.
Mr. Adams (studying the Declaration). Mr. Jefferson, I am delighted with your production. Your statements relative to the inalienable rights of men are unanswerable and to secure these rights, governments must be instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. This paragraph concerning negro slavery meets with my approval but I fear it will not meet with the approval of some of the Southern delegates. I congratulate you, Mr. Jefferson, on what you have done. This document will make you immortal.
Mr. Jefferson. Thank you, Mr. Adams, I fear you are too extravagant in your praise of my work.
(Enter Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sherman.)
Mr. Franklin. Well, gentlemen, have you completed the draft for the Declaration?
Mr. Adams. Mr. Jefferson has finished it. It is all his work. I have reviewed the paper very hurriedly but in my opinion it is one of the greatest documents ever written by man. Look it over, gentlemen, and let us hear your opinion of it.