Who wrote the first draft of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776?

Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The Second Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five to prepare a public explanation of independence. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Although the committee worked collectively, Jefferson produced the main draft because of his reputation as a strong writer and his earlier political work in Virginia.

Jefferson wrote much of the draft between June 11 and June 28, 1776, while staying in Philadelphia. The committee reviewed it before submitting it to Congress on June 28. Congress then debated and edited the text, removing roughly a quarter of Jefferson’s draft and making many other changes.

The finished declaration was adopted on July 4, two days after Congress approved the separate Lee Resolution. Jefferson later served as the third president of the United States, but in 1776 he was a Virginia delegate and a member of the Continental Congress.