Author of the Declaration of Independence

In June of 1776 Thomas Jefferson was asked to write the Declaration of Independence.
Suppose Thomas Jefferson had not written the Declaration. Who would have written the Declaration instead?

LeopoldPhilippe said:

In June of 1776 Thomas Jefferson was asked to write the Declaration of Independence.
Suppose Thomas Jefferson had not written the Declaration. Who would have written the Declaration instead?

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Benjamin Franklin, most likely.

John Adams was among a small committee - I believe Franklin was the 3rd man. Adams told Jefferson, supposedly, to write it becasue he could "write 10 times better."

Adams may feel Frnklin to be the best author if Jefferson doesn't. I remember my AP World History teacher remarking taht they were afraid Franklin would throw a joke or two in there, but I think Franklin was smart enough to know how to play his humor just right and make it work well politically. Sort of like Lincoln would later.

Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Robert Sherman were appointed to the committee that was responsible for writing a draft version of a formal Declaration of Independence.

In a nutshell

Franklin: "Mister Adams, I say you should write it!
To your brilliant legal mind we defer..."

Adams: "Is that so? Well, if I'm the one to do it,
they'll run their quill pens through it,
I'm obnoxious and disliked,
you know that sir.."

Franklin: "I know"

Adams: "But I say you should write it, Franklin, yes you...!"

Franklin: "HELL NO!"

Adams: "Yes YOU, Doctor Franklin, YOU!"

Franklin: "-But!"

Adams: "You!-"

Franklin: "But-!"

Adams: "You..."

Franklin: "Bu-u-u-ut...! Mister Adams, but Mister Adams, the things I write are mere extemperania! I won't put politics to pen; Its a mania! So I refuse to use the pen in Pennsylvania!"

Sherman, Livingston, Jefferson: "Pennsylvania! Pennsylvania! He refuses to use the pen!"

Adams: "Mr. Sherman, maybe you should write it, you are never controversial as it were..."

Sherman: "That is true"

Adams: "Where as if I'm the one to do it,
they'll run their quill pens through it,
I'm obnoxious and disliked, you know that sir."

Livingston, Jefferson, Franklin: "He's obnoxious and disliked, did you know that?"

Sherman: "I know..."

Adams: "So I say you should write Roger, yes you...!"

Sherman: "Good heavens, no!"

Adams: "Yes you, Roger Sherman, you!"

Sherman: "But Mister Adams, BUT Mister Adams, I cannot write with any style or proper etiquette.
I don't know a participle from a predicate!
I am just a simple cobbler from Connecticut!"

Livingston, Jefferson, Franklin: "Connecticut! Connecticut! A simple cobbler, HE!"

Adams: "Mr. Livingston, maybe you should write it! You have many friends and you're a diplomat!"

Franklin: "-Oh that word!"

Adams: "Whereas if I'm the one to do it,
they'll run their quill pens through it,
I'm obnoxious and disliked, you know that sir!"

Livingston: "I hadn't heard"

Adams: "So I say you should write it, yes you-"

Livingston: "Not me, Johnny-"

Adams: "Yes, you, Robert Livingston, you!"

Livingston: "But!"

Adams: "You!"

Livingston: "But!"

Adams: "You"

Livingston: "Bu-u-ut! Mister Adams, BUT Mister Adams, I've been presented with a new gift from the noble stork!
So I am going back to celebrate and pop the cork,
with all my fellow Livingstons back in old New York!

Sherman, Franklin, Jefferson: "New York! New York! A Livingston's going to pop the cork!"

Adams: "Well, Mister Jefferson..."

Jefferson: "Mister Adams, LEAVE ME ALO-O-ONE!"

Livingston, Franklin, Sherman: "La-la-la, la, la-la-la...!"

Jefferson: "Mister Adams, I have not seen my wife in six months-"

Adams: "...we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties, being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves." Thomas Jefferson, on the 'Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms'-1775...!

Mag-ni-fi-cent! You write ten times better than any man in Congress, including me! So, will you be a patriot, or a lover?"

Jefferson: "Lover."

Adams: "What!?"

Jefferson: "But I burn, Mister A!"

Adams: "So do I, Mister J!"

Sherman: "You do!?"

Franklin: "John!"

Livingston: "Who'd have thought it?"

Adams: "Mister Jefferson, dear Mister Jefferson, I'm only 41 I still have my virility. And I can romp through Cupid's grove with great agility. But life is more than sexual combustibility!"

Franklin, Sherman, Livingston: "COMBUSTIBILITY, COMBUSTIBILITY-!"

Adams: "QUIET!"

Jefferson: "Mister Adams, damn you Mister Adams, you're obnoxious and disliked,
that cannot be denied...Once again you stand between me and my lovely bride..."

Livingston, Franklin, Sherman: "Love-ly bri-ide..."

Jefferson: "Oh, Mister Adams! You are driving me to homicide!"

Livingston, Franklin, Sherman: "Homicide! Homicide! We. May. See. Mur-der. Yet...!"

"1776" , introduced on stage in 1969 by Sherman Edwards, based on the novel by Peter Stone.

Astonishly accurate, IMO