Thomas Jefferson drafted the main text of the Declaration of Independence honored in America’s 250th anniversary.
In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five to prepare a declaration. The committee included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. Jefferson wrote the draft, which the committee reviewed before submitting it to Congress.
Congress edited the document during its consideration in late June and early July. Jefferson’s draft therefore became the final Declaration through a collaborative legislative process, not through a single author working without revision. The completed text contains an opening statement of political principles, a list of grievances, and a formal declaration of independence.
Jefferson later became the third president of the United States, but he was not president when he wrote the Declaration. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin helped shape and support the document, while James Madison belonged to a later generation and was not a member of the drafting committee.