Who drafted the original text of the Declaration of Independence commemorated by America250?

Thomas Jefferson drafted the original text of the Declaration of Independence commemorated by America250.

Congress appointed a five-member Committee of Five to prepare the declaration. The committee included Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, but Jefferson wrote the initial draft.

Congress then debated and edited the document before adopting it on July 4, 1776. Jefferson’s draft was therefore not the final text exactly as approved. Among the changes was the removal of a passage criticizing the transatlantic slave trade.

Jefferson was 33 years old in 1776 and represented Virginia in Congress. He later served as the third president of the United States, but his role in America250 history centers on drafting the declaration.