The Authorship of The American Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson, the architect and author of the American Declaration of Independence (ADOI) is revered, and yet, even during his lifetime questions were raised about his authorship [1]. One name linked with the ADOI is Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense and The Rights of Man. This study uses discriminant analysis to and Burrow’s Delta scores [2] which reveal that both Jefferson and Paine exhibit a consistent style of writing. A word set is then created to discriminate between Jefferson and Paine using a hybrid genetic algorithm. From this an n-dimensional convex hull is used as test for authorship of the ADOI itself. Further tests are carried out based on sentence fragments. The study takes into account the sources of the ADOI including The Virginia Constitution and The Summary View of The Rights of America [8]. Results are based on an analysis of all known texts by Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine written prior to the signing of the ADOI. Test results indicate that Thomas Paine is the possible author of this historic document. 1 2