Graff House

Graff House is a reconstructed 18th-century building at the southwest corner of 7th and Market Streets in Philadelphia where Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in June 1776. The original house, built by bricklayer Jacob Graff Jr. in 1775, was demolished in 1883, but the National Park Service constructed a historically accurate replica on the site in 1975 as part of the American Bicentennial celebrations. Now known officially as the Declaration House, the building contains exhibits on Jefferson's three weeks of work that produced one of the most influential documents in human history. The second-floor rooms where Jefferson lodged have been restored to their 1776 appearance, allowing visitors to visualize the conditions under which he composed the stirring words that announced American independence. The site is open to the public free of charge as part of Independence National Historical Park.

Jefferson's Lodgings

Thomas Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia in May 1776 as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, seeking lodgings away from the noise and bustle of the city center. He rented two rooms on the second floor of the newly constructed Graff House, then on the outskirts of town, paying 35 shillings per week for a parlor and bedroom. The young bricklayer Jacob Graff Jr. and his wife lived on the first floor of the three-story brick house, which featured a kitchen in the cellar and additional rooms above. Jefferson appreciated the relative quiet and the fresh air, conditions conducive to the intense intellectual work that lay ahead.

On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a Committee of Five—Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston—to draft a formal declaration explaining the reasons for independence. The committee assigned the actual writing to Jefferson, whose literary reputation had been established by his pamphlet "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" (1774). Over approximately seventeen days in his Graff House lodgings, Jefferson composed the draft that, with revisions by the committee and Congress, became the Declaration of Independence. He worked at a portable writing desk of his own design, a piece of furniture he treasured for the rest of his life and that now resides at the Smithsonian Institution.

Drafting Process

Jefferson's task was to explain to the world why the American colonies were justified in breaking from Britain. He drew on multiple intellectual traditions: the natural rights philosophy of John Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers; the English constitutional tradition stretching back to the Magna Carta; colonial experience with self-government; and his own previous writings, particularly the preamble to the Virginia Constitution. The resulting draft consisted of three parts: a philosophical preamble establishing the principles of natural rights and popular sovereignty; a lengthy enumeration of grievances against King George III; and a formal declaration of independence.

Jefferson shared his draft with Adams and Franklin, who suggested revisions before the document was submitted to Congress. Franklin, characteristically, suggested changes to improve clarity and flow—most famously changing "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable" to "We hold these truths to be self-evident." Adams made fewer changes but offered strong encouragement. The committee's draft was presented to Congress on June 28, 1776, and after further debate and revision—including the deletion of Jefferson's condemnation of the slave trade—was adopted on July 4. Jefferson later expressed frustration with Congress's editing but acknowledged the final document's power and importance.

Original Building

The original Graff House stood for over a century after its brush with history, though few Philadelphians were aware of its significance. Jefferson himself returned to the house in 1783 and was distressed to find it much altered, with a shop occupying the first floor. The building's historical importance was not widely recognized until later in the 19th century, and by then commercial development had transformed the surrounding neighborhood. In 1883, the Penn National Bank demolished the Graff House to expand its operations, an act of destruction that provoked outrage from those who valued the site's historical associations. The bank placed a commemorative plaque on its building, but the original structure was lost forever.

Efforts to commemorate the site continued throughout the 20th century. In 1926, the Daughters of the American Revolution installed a bronze statue of Jefferson on the sidewalk where the house had stood. As Independence National Historical Park took shape in the 1950s and 1960s, proposals emerged to reconstruct the Graff House as part of the park's interpretation of Revolutionary-era Philadelphia. The project gained momentum as the Bicentennial approached, and the National Park Service undertook a careful reconstruction based on historical research, archaeological investigation, and period building practices. The reconstructed house opened in 1975, returning Jefferson's lodgings to their approximate original location.

Current Site

The reconstructed Graff House stands slightly north of the original location, on a site cleared of later commercial development to create the Independence Mall. The exterior replicates the appearance of a 1770s Philadelphia townhouse, with red brick walls, white-painted wooden trim, and a gambrel roof. The interior has been restored to reflect the building's condition during Jefferson's residence, with reproduction furnishings based on historical research. The second-floor rooms include the parlor where Jefferson likely wrote much of the Declaration and the bedroom where he slept. The furnishings are spare, reflecting the temporary nature of Jefferson's lodgings and the building's status as a rental property.

The first floor contains exhibits on the Declaration of Independence and its drafting, including reproductions of Jefferson's rough draft with his handwritten revisions and Congress's changes. A short film presents the context and significance of the document. The exhibits emphasize the process of composition and revision, countering the romantic notion that the Declaration sprang fully formed from Jefferson's pen. The building attracts visitors seeking to understand how the Declaration came into being, offering an intimate complement to the grander spaces of Independence Hall where the document was debated and adopted. The Graff House is open daily except for major holidays and can be visited free of charge.

See Also

• Declaration of Independence
• Independence Hall
• Benjamin Franklin
• Second Continental Congress
• Old City