Declaration of Independence: Right to Institute New Government | Exhibitions – Library of Congress

Drafting
the Declaration of Independence in 1776 became the defining event
in Thomas Jefferson’s life. Despite Jefferson’s desire to return
to Virginia to help write that state’s constitution, the Continental
Congress appointed him to the five-person committee for drafting
a declaration of independence. That committee subsequently assigned
him the task of producing a draft document for its consideration.
Drawing on documents, such as the Virginia Declaration of Rights,
state and local calls for independence, and his own draft of a
Virginia constitution, Jefferson wrote a stunning statement of
the colonists’ right to rebel against the British government and
establish their own based on the premise that all men are created
equal and have the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.

Through the many revisions made by Jefferson, the committee,
and then by Congress, Jefferson retained his prominent role in
writing the defining document of the American Revolution and,
indeed, of the United States. Jefferson was critical of changes
to the document, particularly the removal of a long paragraph
that attributed responsibility of the slave trade to British King
George III. Jefferson was justly proud of his role in writing
the Declaration of Independence and skillfully defended his authorship
of this hallowed document.