Thomas Jefferson wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, central to the America250 anniversary.
Congress appointed the Committee of Five on June 11, 1776, to prepare a declaration explaining the colonies’ decision to separate from Great Britain. The committee consisted of Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Adams and the committee selected Jefferson to compose the draft.
Jefferson wrote most of the draft between June 11 and June 28 at a rented house in Philadelphia. Congress then debated and edited the text, removing and changing portions before adopting it on July 4. Jefferson’s authorship therefore refers to the original draft, not an untouched final manuscript.
The Declaration’s famous opening principles about equality and unalienable rights became especially influential long after 1776. Jefferson later served as the third president of the United States, but George Washington was the first president under the Constitution.