The Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson largely wrote in isolation between June 11 and 28, 1776, from a floor he was renting in a home at 700 Market Street in Center City Philadelphia, [61] contain "the most potent and consequential words in American history," historian Joseph Ellis later wrote. Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. [62] At age 33, he Indeed, he was not known by most Americans as the principal author until the 1790s. He returned to Virginia in October 1776 and immediately launched an extensive project for the reform of the state’s legal code to bring it in line with the principles of the American Revolution. While Thomas Jefferson is often credited as the primary author, the truth is that the Declaration was the result of a collaborative effort by a group of dedicated revolutionaries. To understand the origins of the Declaration, we must first look at the historical context. Primary Author of the Declaration of Independence Yet two years later as a member of the Second Continental Congress and chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson put forward the Colonies’ arguments for declaring themselves free and independent states. The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. We now credit Thomas Jefferson with the Declaration’s authorship, but that was not the case on that momentous day, nor for a significant time afterwards. Joined by John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston and the primary author of the document Thomas Jefferson, this so-called Committee of Five was tasked with putting to words the feelings of many of the colonists at the time that independence from Britain had become necessary, something that might have been unthinkable just a few years earlier. Drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776 became the defining event in Thomas Jefferson's life. Drawing on documents, such as the Virginia Declaration of Rights, state and local calls for independence, and his own draft of a Virginia constitution, Jefferson wrote a stunning statement of the colonists' right to rebel against the British government and establish their own based on the Thomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, drafted in June 1776. However, the document was reviewed and edited by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and other members of the drafting committee before being finalized by the Continental Congress. Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original. The spirited and creative qualities of Jefferson's writing helped secure his selection as chair of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He returned the following year for the Second Continental Congress, where he helped draft the Declaration of Independence. 13a. The Declaration of Independence and Its Legacy "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that Drafting the DeclarationThomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, but he did not work alone. On June 7, 1776, Virginia Delegate Richard Henry Lee put forward a resolution that "all political connection between them [the Colonies] and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." On June 11th, the Continental Congress nominated a drafting When asked, “Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?” the short answer is Thomas Jefferson. At just 33 years old, Jefferson was chosen by the Second Continental Congress to draft the document. Despite his youth, Jefferson had already earned a reputation as a skilled writer and a deep thinker. While Thomas Jefferson was the main author of the Declaration of Independence, the congressional committee of John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston played an important role. 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 is considered the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, although Jefferson's draft went through a process of revision by his fellow committee members and the Second Continental Congress. He described the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as "these fragile objects which bear so great a weight of meaning to our people." The story of the Declaration of Independence as a document can only be a part of the larger history, a history still unfolding, a "weight of meaning" constantly, challenged, strengthened, and redefined. Congress Voting Independence, by Robert Edge Pine (1784–1788), depicts the Committee of Five in the center Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776, Jean Leon Gerome Ferris ' idealized 1900 depiction of (left to right) Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson of the Committee of Five working on the Declaration. The delegates of the Thirteen Colonies in Congress resolved to 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
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