Jefferson was first elected in 1768 to the Virginia House of Burgesses and joined their radical party led by George Washington and Patrick Henry. From there Jefferson wrote his first political works in 1774, and then in 1775 he attended the Second Continental Congress. In 1776, a panel of five men, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, were appointed by the Congress to write a draft of the Declaration of Independence. The panel chose Jefferson to write the first draft of the declaration. Jefferson was chosen for his intelligence and his ability to write. Jefferson wrote the draft in seventeen days, known as the most powerful and magnificent demonstration to life, liberty and equality in world history. He wrote the declaration by first stating the natural rights that all humans deserve and then stated resolutions and specific details against King George the third, that removed America completely from the rule of Great Britain. After revisions and editing the Declaration of Independence, they kept Thomas original beginning stating humans natural rights, it was adopted July 4,