Thomas Jefferson chaired the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence for the 1776 founding commemorated by America250.
The Second Continental Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776, to prepare a formal explanation of the colonies’ decision to separate from Great Britain. Its five members were Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert Livingston of New York.
Jefferson wrote the initial draft, which the other committee members reviewed before it was submitted to Congress. Congress then debated and revised the text. The committee therefore prepared the document, but it did not independently adopt the Declaration; that authority belonged to the Continental Congress.
Jefferson’s role is sometimes overstated as if he wrote the final text without alteration. Congress removed and changed several passages, including a lengthy section criticizing the transatlantic slave trade and slavery. The final document was approved on July 4, 1776.