Thomas Jefferson had many achievements in his life time, one of which was writing the Declaration of Independence. First he served as a delegate on the Second Continental Congress. He didn't know many people in the congress, but soon became friends with John Adams and his cousin Samuel Adams. When the congress decided that independence was the best idea John Adams made sure that Thomas Jefferson would be part of writing the declaration. The group who wrote it was called the "five-man committee". The committee was made up of Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The committee wanted John Adams to write the rough draft, but Adams wanted Thomas Jefferson to do it. It took Jefferson 17 days to write the rough draft. The other 4 members revised it and made some changes. A final draft was presented to the rest of the congress on June 28, 1776. The congress deleted about 1/4 of the original document, and although Jefferson wasn't too happy about these changes he didn't speak about it publicly. Then, on July 4th, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed.