On June 11, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was drafted. According to History.com, “the Continental Congress selects Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York to draft a declaration of independence”. The website continues with describing how Adams urged Jefferson to write it, and then Adam and Franklin revised it, before presenting it to Congress on June 28th for review. The document was officially adopted on July 4, 1776, but it was not actually signed until August 2nd, by some, and several others on a later date.