Thomas Jefferson mainly drafted the United States Declaration of Independence, the document central to America250.
The Second Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five to prepare the document in June 1776. The committee included Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, but Jefferson produced the principal draft.
Jefferson wrote the draft in Philadelphia between June 11 and June 28, 1776. The committee reviewed it before presenting it to Congress, which edited the text during debate. Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776, after approving the Lee Resolution two days earlier.
A common mistake is crediting the entire document to Jefferson alone. He was its principal author, but Congress changed and approved the final wording, and the Committee of Five provided review. Franklin and Adams were influential members of the committee rather than the main drafter.