Thomas Jefferson wrote the main draft of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson was one of five members of the drafting committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress. The other members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The committee selected Jefferson to prepare the principal draft, which Congress then revised.
Jefferson’s text drew on Enlightenment ideas about natural rights, government, and the consent of the governed. Congress edited several passages before adopting the document on July 4, 1776, including removing a lengthy criticism of the transatlantic slave trade and modifying other language.
Jefferson was not the sole author of the political ideas in the declaration, and he did not independently approve the final wording. The document was a congressional statement, formally issued by the Second Continental Congress.