Thomas Jefferson is credited as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five to prepare a declaration explaining the colonies’ decision to separate from Britain. The committee included Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. Jefferson drafted the main text, which the committee and Congress then revised.
The final document combined Enlightenment ideas about natural rights with a detailed list of grievances against King George III. Its famous opening argues that people possess equal rights and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Jefferson later served as the third president of the United States, from 1801 to 1809. He was one of the document’s signers, but describing him as the sole author is an oversimplification: the committee helped present the draft, and Congress made substantial edits before adoption.