<P> After ratifying the text on July 4 , Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms . It was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public . The source copy used for this printing has been lost and may have been a copy in Thomas Jefferson 's hand . Jefferson 's original draft is preserved at the Library of Congress , complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin , as well as Jefferson 's notes of changes made by Congress . The best - known version of the Declaration is a signed copy that is displayed at the National Archives in Washington , D.C. , and which is popularly regarded as the official document . This engrossed copy was ordered by Congress on July 19 and signed primarily on August 2 . </P>
who wrote most of the declaration of independance
Thomas Jefferson