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The Declaration of Independence is the document that was drafted as a proclamation for the 13 original colonies of New England to emancipate themselves from the British Empire. It was written in 1776 and ratified within the same few months. In total, there were multiple authors, many signees, and an even greater amount of contributors. The authors of the Declaration of Independence include five main Revolutionary leaders. The main leader who originally drafted the Declaration was Thomas Jefferson, and the four other main authors include John Adams, Robert R. Livingston, Roger Sherman and Benjamin Franklin. Jefferson was one of the original Founding Fathers of the U.S. as well as the third U.S. President. He was a proponent of the Continental Congress under the state of Virginia as well as the first U.S. Secretary of State. Adams, the second President of the U.S., was an influential public leader in Boston, Massachusetts as well as the Continental Congress. He played a major part in pushing independence for the colonies. Livingston was a Chancellor, which is the highest judicial officer in the state, as well as a Recorder from New York. Several years after the Declaration was written, he took office as the U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Sherman was the first mayor of New Haven, a town in Connecticut. Once the Declaration was written, he became a representative and senator in the new republic. Franklin was one of the original authors who wore the most hats. Besides for his inclusion in the Declaration, he was best known as being an inventor. Some of his political positions included “First American”, the first U.S. Ambassador to France and governor of Pennsylvania at one point. All of these men led influential lives, and therefore were very well suited to be the Declaration authors. The Declaration of Independence was originally drafted by

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