USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -As the “silent member” of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence. In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.

Detailed explanation-2: -America’s independence signaled a fundamental change: once-dependent British colonies became independent states that could make war, create alliances with foreign nations, and engage freely in commerce.

Detailed explanation-3: -Although Jefferson disputed his account, John Adams later recalled that he had persuaded Jefferson to write the draft because Jefferson had the fewest enemies in Congress and was the best writer. (Jefferson would have gotten the job anyway-he was elected chair of the committee.)

Detailed explanation-4: -Influences on Jeffersons Writing Thomas Jefferson used no books or pamphlets to help him write the Declaration of Independence. But since his early days, he’d thought and read about government and the rights of mankind. He read British writer John Locke, who believed that people are born with natural rights.

Detailed explanation-5: -Jefferson based the Declaration on the theory of natural rights, which argued that every human being has certain basic rights that belong to the person by virtue of his or her being human.