The apparent contradiction between the claim that "all men are created equal" and the existence of slavery in the United States attracted comment when the Declaration was first published. Many of the founders understood the incompatibility of the statement of natural equality with the institution of slavery, but continued to enjoy the “Rights of Man”. Jefferson had included a paragraph in his initial draft that asserted that King George III had forced the slave trade onto the colonies, but this was deleted from the final version. Jefferson himself was a prominent Virginia slaveowner, owning six hundred enslaved Africans on his Monticello plantation. Referring to this contradiction, English abolitionist Thomas Day wrote in a 1776 letter, "If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves."(2) At: Internet Archive : The Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries : James Birney Collection of Antislavery Pamphlets .</ref> The African-American writer Lemuel Haynes expressed similar viewpoints in his essay "Liberty Further Extended," where he wrote that "Liberty is Equally as preious to a Black man, as it is to a white one".