Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

The Declaration of Independence serves as our country's most cherished document in all history.  July 4 marks the anniversary of the official announcement that the thirteen American colonies were now independent states, and they were no longer under the rule of Great Britain. 

On June 11, 1776, congress appointed a "committee of five" which included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,  Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman to draft a declaration of independence.m  The committee then appointed Thomas Jefferson to write the first draft of this document.  It has been told that Jefferson most likely had little time to write a draft for the declaration, and that it was written fairly quickly.  Later, Jefferson presented this document to the rest of the committee, in which they made revisions to and presented it to Congress on June 28, 1776.

On July 4th, 1775 the Second Continental Congress held a meeting in the Pennsylvania State House (which is now Independence Hall), the Declaration of Independence was approved.

Fun facts about the Declaration of Independence:
The youngest signer was Edward Rutledge (26 years old) and the oldest was Benjamin Franklin. (70 years old).
On one of the early drafts created by Thomas Jefferson, he refereed to "Our fellow citizens" as "our fellow subjects", later this was revised but it is clearly smudged as "subjects" on one of the original drafts.
The official Declaration of Independence wasn't taken care of properly at first. It was usually rolled up and carried around by the Second Continental Congress. If someone would wish to see it, they simply pulled it out and showed it to them. Later in the years, Congress began to grow tire sum of showing the document, it was then posted up on a wall by a bright window, and remained there for 30 years. This could be why the declaration is so faded and worn. There is also a hand print at the bottom left corner of the declaration, who's hand print is unable to be identified.

Follow me today on Twitter. Receive updates daily on latest articles about the events that have happened on a certain day in history! Get to know some really cool facts today! Search user name TodayInHist0ry.

References:

• UShistory.org  - Ushistory.org information about the Declaration of Independence.
• 
  Wikipedia -
   
• Neatorama.com - 5 Neat Facts about the Declaration of Independence