Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

The Declaration of Independence was primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson, who was tasked with drafting the document by the Second Continental Congress in 1776. Jefferson's eloquent writing captured the colonists' desire for freedom from British rule and articulated their principles regarding government and individual rights. The Declaration not only declared the colonies' independence from Britain but also laid out the philosophical foundations for a government based on the consent of the governed and the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

While figures like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin played crucial roles in the American Revolution, and James Madison is later known as the "Father of the Constitution," it was Jefferson who crafted this pivotal document that symbolized the birth of the United States as an independent nation.