Thomas Jefferson is generally credited as the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, whose 250th anniversary America250 commemorates.
Jefferson drafted the document in June 1776 while serving on the five-member committee chosen by the Second Continental Congress. The committee also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
The committee submitted Jefferson’s draft to Congress, where delegates revised it substantially. Congress removed or changed portions, including Jefferson’s condemnation of the slave trade, before approving the final text. Thus, Jefferson wrote the initial draft, but the Declaration was a collective congressional document.
Jefferson later preserved a draft known as the “original Rough draught.” He served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809 and remained closely associated with the Declaration throughout his life. America250’s 2026 commemoration centers on the document’s adoption in 1776.