He has refused his Assent to Laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

This charge refers to the fact that several of the colonies had been obliged from their establishment to submit their laws to the King for his approval. This power, the Declaration implies, was never consistent with the fundamental principle of just government: consent. And by adding "laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good," Jefferson indicates that the laws that were vetoed were intended to accomplish the fundamental purpose of government stated in the preamble, "to secure these rights." One important example of this charge was King George's refusal to comply with various attempts by the Colonies to abolish the slave trade, as Jefferson explicitly stated in his original draft of the declaration. [LINK TO IT] The King, wishing to protect this profitable British trade, defeated all attempts by the Colonies to curtail or abolish it.

Close