Who wrote the principal draft of the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson wrote the principal draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Congress appointed a five-member drafting group known as the Committee of Five: Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. The committee selected Jefferson to prepare the initial text, which he wrote in June 1776 while staying in Philadelphia.

The draft was reviewed by Adams and Franklin before being submitted to the Continental Congress. Congress then edited the text during several days of debate, removing or changing passages before adopting the final version on July 4. Therefore, Jefferson is correctly identified as the principal drafter, but the document was shaped by Congress rather than written and approved without revisions.

Jefferson later became the third president of the United States. His role in the Declaration is one of the most frequently cited facts connected with the nation’s 250th anniversary.