250 years of American independence: How the text that founded the US – and changed the world – was drafted

'America 250' (1/13). The 13 colonies had been fighting the British Crown for a year when, in July 1776, lawyer Thomas Jefferson completed the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Adopted by Congress on July 4 in Philadelphia, this document, which established the principle of equality for all – even though slavery was still legal everywhere – founded the United States of America.