Thomas Jefferson drafted the main text of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document honored by America250.
Congress appointed Jefferson to the Committee of Five, which also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson wrote the draft, drawing on political ideas about natural rights and government by consent, while the committee presented it to Congress.
Jefferson was not solely responsible for the final wording. Congress debated and edited the draft, removing passages and changing language before approving the document on July 4, 1776. Franklin and Adams supported the draft, but Jefferson remained its principal author.
The Declaration’s authorship is sometimes confused with its presidency or signing. John Hancock was president of the Continental Congress and signed prominently, while Jefferson later became the third president of the United States.