Wednesday, November 02, 2005

18th Century Tourette's

Few realise that Thomas Jefferson suffered from a form of Tourettes, and that had Benjamin Franklin et al not helped him redraft The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, then the US might not be the dominant global power that it is today.

Here is a fragment of an early, unpublished first draft:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men IMPUDENT SCALLYWAG are
created equal, that they are IMCOMPETENT MONGREL endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that COWARDLY RASCAL among these are Life, Liberty, and the CONTEMPTIBLE THIEF pursuit of Happiness.

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