Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence?
The Declaration of Independence is a statement that was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The document declared the colonies free from the governing and power of Great Britain.
When the colonies met to begin drafting the document, they had already been at war with Great Britain for almost a year. The document's purpose was to explain their grievances and reasoning behind wanting independence from England.
On the eleventh of June in 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a “Committee of Five” to pen the document. The individuals were strategically chosen from a variety of different colonies.
The Committee consisted of the following individuals:
- John Adams from Massachusetts
- Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania
- Thomas Jefferson from Virginia
- Robert Livingston from New York
- Roger Sherman from Connecticut
Not much information is known about the initial meetings of the committee because the committee did not summarize their meetings. Although later memoirs describe the initial meetings, they conflict in content. It is known that the initial meetings of the committee decided on the outline for the document. The committee also decided that Thomas Jefferson should write the first draft of the document.
Writing the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft over seventeen days. After he wrote the draft, he consulted the other members of the committee for their opinions and changes. He incorporated their suggestions into a second draft.
The committee then presented this second draft to the Congress on June 28, 1776. When they presented the document, the title of the document was, “A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.” When this document was presented to the Congress, Congress ordered the document to lie on the table. This meant that Congress suspended consideration on the document.
Debates on the Declaration
On July 1, Congress decided to resume debate on the document and meet as a committee on the whole. Although John Dickinson attempted to delay the decision regarding independence, a passionate speech by John Adams convinced Congress to put the declaration to a vote for immediate decision.
The Congress debated for a day, which resulted in a series of long speeches from various members of the Congress. After the day, a vote was taken. Each colony cast one vote. Each colony had its own delegation, which ranged from two members to seven members.
Voting
The delegations would first vote amongst themselves to determine how the colony would vote on the matter. Nine delegations voted in support of the Declaration. Two delegations voted against the declaration, and these two delegations were South Carolina and Pennsylvania. The New York delegation did not cast a vote because it lacked permission to vote for independence, and the Delaware delegation was split between its two members and thus could not cast a vote.
The following day, South Carolina changed its vote and voted for the Declaration of Independence. The tie in the Delaware delegation was also broken, and Delaware voted in support of the Declaration. Pennsylvania also changed its vote to support the document, and the motion passed.
Thus, on July 2, twelve delegations voted to support independence and officially sever ties with Great Britain, and one colony abstained from the vote. After officially voting in support of the document, Congress then debated for two days about the text of the document.
For the next two days, Congress made alterations to the text, and deleted parts of it. In fact, Congress deleted almost a fourth of the text, including a passage that was critical of the slave trade. On July 4, document was officially approved by Congress, signed and sent to the printer to be published.