Thomas Jefferson was the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document central to America250.
Jefferson wrote the initial draft in June 1776 as a member of the Committee of Five appointed by the Second Continental Congress. The committee also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. Congress then revised the document before adopting it on July 4.
Jefferson’s prose presented the colonies’ case for separation from Great Britain and expressed ideas about equality, natural rights, and government based on consent. The text drew on Enlightenment political thought, although its promises were not applied equally to everyone in the new nation.
Jefferson later became the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. The Declaration made him internationally famous before his presidency and remains the document most closely associated with his public reputation.