Who primarily wrote the United States Declaration of Independence, commemorated by America250?

Thomas Jefferson primarily wrote the United States Declaration of Independence, whose 250th anniversary America250 commemorates.

Congress appointed the Committee of Five on June 11, 1776, to prepare a declaration. The committee consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Although the document was a committee project and Congress substantially edited it, Jefferson produced the primary draft.

Jefferson wrote the draft largely in isolation between June 11 and June 28, 1776, while staying in Philadelphia. The Committee of Five presented the draft to Congress, which debated and revised it before approving the final text on July 4. The document therefore has both an individual principal author and a collective congressional history.

John Adams and Benjamin Franklin are sometimes named as coauthors because they reviewed and advised Jefferson. They were members of the committee, but Jefferson is recognized as the Declaration’s primary writer. The Declaration became the central document commemorated by the 2026 semiquincentennial.