Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the United States Declaration of Independence for the Committee of Five.
Congress appointed the five-member committee on June 11, 1776. Its members were Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The group was responsible for preparing a declaration explaining why the colonies should separate from Great Britain.
Jefferson was chosen to write the initial draft, largely because Adams persuaded the committee to assign him the task. Jefferson worked on it in Philadelphia between June 11 and June 28, producing the core text that Congress later edited.
The final Declaration was not simply Jefferson’s untouched manuscript. Congress shortened and revised the draft, including changing some wording and removing a passage criticizing Britain’s role in the slave trade. The document was approved on July 4, 1776, and became the most famous statement of American independence.