Question

wrote the Declaration of Independence to justify the British colonies' move toward independence.

Answer 1

The principal author was Thomas Jefferson. In June 1776 the Second Continental Congress appointed a "Committee of Five" (Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston) to draft a statement explaining and justifying the colonies' decision to break with Britain. Jefferson wrote the initial draft, which was revised by the committee and Congress and formally adopted on July 4, 1776. The document used Enlightenment ideas (notably John Locke’s) to assert natural rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) and to list the colonists’ grievances against King George III.