Declaration of Independence: Track Changes Version

Thomas Jefferson wrote out the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, but he did not do so alone and without guidance. After all, he had been a member of the Continental Congress that summer, listening to the discussions about what a Declaration should say. Jefferson was also part of a five-person committee that also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. After the committee produced a draft, additional changes were made by the Continental Congress before a final version was created. Back in the 1950s, a professor named Julian Boyd worked back through the documentary record of edits and changes–which include handwritten notes inserted on top of Jefferson’s early draft–to create the “original Rough draught” of the Declaration. These day, of course, one can run the original draft of the Declaration available through the Library of Congress and the final version available from the National Archives through the “Track Changes” command in…