Existing comment:
June 11 - July 1
After nominating the Committee of Five, the Congress recessed for three weeks. During this time, the thirty-three-year-old Jefferson -- already an accomplished writer well regarded for his political pamphlet A Summary View of the Rights of British America -- drafted the declaration with the help of Adams and Franklin. Much of Jefferson's language borrowed from other contemporary documents, such as George Mason's Declaration of Rights and Virginia's new constitution. Jefferson later contended that he did not want the Declaration of Independence to be original but, instead, "an expression of the American mind." |