Thomas Jefferson’s original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence contained a powerful passage condemning the transatlantic slave trade and accusing King George III of maintaining the system. That passage was removed during the revisions before Congress adopted the Declaration. The surviving rough draft shows how dramatically the language changed between Jefferson’s original text and the document Americans know today. This is a look at one of the most significant deleted passages in the history of the Declaration of Independence. Historical sources include the Library of Congress and Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello.