Thomas Jefferson wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Congress appointed a Committee of Five on June 11, 1776, to prepare a declaration. The committee included Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Adams persuaded the group to assign the principal drafting work to Jefferson, who produced the draft in June 1776.
Congress then debated and edited the text before approving it on July 4. Jefferson was the main author, but the document was not a solo publication: the committee reviewed it, and the Continental Congress made significant changes. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were collaborators and influential advocates for independence, but they did not write the original draft.