For America250, who wrote most of the United States Declaration of Independence?

For America250, Thomas Jefferson wrote most of the United States Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress selected Jefferson for the Committee of Five that prepared the document in June 1776.

Jefferson drafted the text while living in Philadelphia. The other committee members—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston—reviewed it, and Congress then edited the draft before adopting the final wording.

Jefferson was not the sole author of every idea in the Declaration. The document reflects revisions by Congress and intellectual influences including John Locke and earlier colonial arguments about rights. Still, Jefferson is recognized as its principal drafter.

The Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776. Jefferson later became the third president of the United States, but he was not president when he wrote the document; the United States was still governed by the Continental Congress.