There were 6 edits done by Jefferson, Franklin, Jay, and Adams.
Chat with our AI personalities
The so-called Committee of Five that was selected to draft the Declaration consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman. Jefferson did the entire initial draft. Adams and Franklin made some changes before it was submitted to Congress. Sherman and Livingston did not contribute to the drafting itself.
The Declaration of Independence was written by Jefferson with Franklin, Adams, and Jay as editors. It took 6 rewrites.
There was 80 changes made to the Declaration of Independence.
The Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they appointed a committee (a group of people working together to do a specific job) to write a formal document that would tell Great Britain that the Americans had decided to govern themselves. The committee asked Thomas Jefferson to write a draft (first try) of the document, so he worked for days, in absolute secret, until he had written a document that he thought said everything important that the committee had discussed. On June 28, 1776, the committee met to read Jefferson's "fair" copy (he put his best ideas together and wrote them neatly.) They revised (made some changes) the document and declared their independence on July 2, 1776. They officially adopted it (made it theirs) on July 4, 1776. That is why we call it "Independence Day." Congress ordered that all members must sign the Declaration of Independence and they all began signing the "official" copy on August 2, 1776. In January of the next year, Congress sent signed copies to all of the states.
In 1776, between June 11 (when the Declaration committee was appointed) and July 4 (when changes were done and the Declaration was approved).Actually it was July 4th, that's why we have Independence day on that day because the Declaration of Independence was written.