Thomas Jefferson mainly wrote the United States Declaration of Independence, the document commemorated by America250. Congress appointed him to the five-member Committee of Five responsible for drafting it.
Jefferson wrote the original draft between June 11 and June 28, 1776. The committee included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, but Adams and the other members helped review and revise Jefferson’s text before Congress debated it.
Congress made substantial changes during several days of discussion. It removed nearly a fourth of the draft and altered wording, including passages criticizing slavery and the slave trade. The final document therefore reflects congressional editing as well as Jefferson’s authorship.
Jefferson later became the third president of the United States. His role in drafting the Declaration helped make him one of the central figures associated with the nation’s founding and with the 250th-anniversary story.