Who wrote the declaration of independence
Livingston of New York–that was charged with drafting a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain. On June 11, Jefferson was appointed to a five-man committee–alongside John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R.
#Who wrote the declaration of independence free#
On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia formally presented a resolution before the Congress, stating that “hese United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” It became known as the Lee Resolution, or the resolution for independence.
That same year, Jefferson began building Monticello, his hilltop estate in Albemarle County he would later greatly expand his holdings in land and slaves through his marriage to Martha Wayles Skelton in 1772. In 1768, Jefferson stood as a candidate for the Virginia House of Burgesses he entered the legislature just as opposition was building to the taxation policies of the British government. Jefferson’s Early Careerīorn into one of the most prominent families in Virginia (on his mother’s side), Jefferson studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg and began practicing law in 1767. A member of a committee of five that also included John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Jefferson drew up a draft and included Franklin’s and Adams’ corrections. 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. The Men Who Signed the Declaration of IndependenceĪt the Second Continental Congress during the summer of 1776, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia was charged with drafting a formal statement justifying the 13 North American colonies’ break with Great Britain.“We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident…”.