Oil on Canvas
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
 
Ferris depicts Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, at work writing the Declaration in 1776. The three were named to a committee to prepare a declaration of independence for the new nation. Jefferson (standing) did the actual writing because he was known as a good writer, although Congress deleted his most extravagant rhetoric. The scene, the authors reviewing their draft of the writing, takes place at Jefferson's lodgings on the corner of Seventh and High (Market) Streets in Philadelphia.