Who was the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson was the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence.

The Second Continental Congress appointed Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston to draft a declaration explaining why the colonies should separate from Great Britain. Jefferson wrote the main draft in June 1776, drawing on Enlightenment ideas about natural rights and government by consent.

The committee revised Jefferson’s text, and Congress edited it further before adopting the final Declaration on July 4, 1776. Jefferson’s draft famously listed grievances against King George III and argued that people could alter or abolish a government that violated their rights.

Jefferson was not the sole author, and the document was not accepted unchanged. Congress removed or revised several passages, including a condemnation of the transatlantic slave trade. The Declaration announced independence politically, while the Revolutionary War continued until the Treaty of Paris in 1783.