Who was the principal draftsman of the United States Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson was the principal draftsman of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Congress appointed a Committee of Five to prepare a public explanation of the colonies’ decision to separate from Great Britain. The committee included Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, but Jefferson wrote the initial draft.

The committee and then Congress revised the text. Congress removed or changed several passages, including Jefferson’s criticism of the slave trade and a claim directed at the British king. The final document therefore reflects debate and editing rather than one author’s untouched manuscript.

Jefferson was 33 years old when the Declaration was adopted. He later served as the third president of the United States, but his role in drafting the 1776 document is separate from the later constitutional government created in 1789.