Which Founding Father wrote the main draft of the United States Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson wrote the main draft of the United States Declaration of Independence.

In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five to prepare a declaration explaining the colonies’ decision to separate from Great Britain. The committee included Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.

Jefferson produced the principal draft between June 11 and June 28, 1776. The committee reviewed it, and Congress subsequently debated and edited the wording. The final document was adopted on July 4, 1776, the event commemorated by America250.

Jefferson was a delegate from Virginia and later became the third president of the United States. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin helped shape the committee’s work, but neither wrote the main draft. George Washington was not a member of the drafting committee and did not sign the Declaration.