On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a "Committee of Five", consisting of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, to draft a declaration. Drafting the Documents Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia behind a veil of Congressionally imposed secrecy in June 1776 for a country wracked by military and political uncertainties. In anticipation of a vote for independence, the Continental Congress on June 11 appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R The Changes Made to Jefferson’s Original Rough Draught Second Continental Congress In June of 1776, the Committee of Five—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston—was charged by the Committee of the Whole with the responsibility of authoring a draft of the Declaration of Independence— just in case the Lee Resolution were approved. After Franklin helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and he negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War. How old was Benjamin Franklin when he signed the Constitution? On June 7 the issue of independence was raised, and four days later a committee, of which Franklin was a member, was appointed to draft a declaration, which was submitted to Congress on the 28th. Did Ben Franklin help write the Constitution? Benjamin Franklin was a Founding Father and a polymath, inventor, scientist, printer, politician, freemason and diplomat. Franklin helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and he negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin primarily served as the editor of the Declaration of Independence. His changes were believed to have been minimal, but, when the document went before the entire Continental Congress, the draft was more thoroughly changed by the larger body from Jefferson’s original text. Jefferson drafted the statement between June 11 and 28, submitted drafts to Adams and Franklin who made some changes, and then presented the draft to the Congress following the July 2nd adoption of the independence section of the Lee Resolution. On July 4, 1776, the United States officially declared its independence from the British Empire when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was authored by a “Committee of Five”—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman—with Jefferson as the main drafter. But Jefferson himself later admitted After reading Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence, Franklin offered only a few edits, but one of them was pivotal. In his draft, Jefferson’s most important sentence On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress entrusted a committee of five delegates (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman) with composing the Declaration of Independence. Franklin was part of the five-member committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, other members were John Adams of Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. Congress then nominates a drafting committee to compose a declaration of independence. Named the "Committee of Five," it included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Jefferson is chosen to draft the document. Benjamin Franklin served as an editor of the original draft. On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress assigned five delegates to write the first draft of the Declaration of Why did Benjamin Franklin refuse to write the Declaration of Independence? He did not want his humor to distract from the document's purpose. Select the reasons that Congress wanted a written Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston appointed to a committee to draft a declaration of independence. American army retreats to Lake Champlain from Canada. At the request of the committee, Jefferson drafts a declaration that is the basic text of his “original Rough draught.” That single edit showed Franklin’s understanding of the declaration’s true audience. Jefferson and company were writing to King George, but they were trying to convince their fellow colonists (and the French) that a revolt was justified and worth supporting. All told, there were 86 edits to the document, slashing about a quarter of its overall content. Most changes were made by the At the time, the Declaration of Independence was regarded as a collective effort of the Continental Congress; Jefferson was not recognized as its principal author until the 1790s. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? Thomas Jefferson was the main author, with input from John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and others. The members of the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin to the Committee of Five, a group of the nation's leaders who would draft the Declaration of Independence. He joined future presidents John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Roger Sherman from Connecticut and Roger Livingston of New York.
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