In the central group in the painting, Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, is shown placing the document before John Hancock, president of the Congress. With him stand the other members of the committee that created the draft: John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston and Benjamin Franklin. This event occurred in the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. painting_key_declaration-of-independence_aoc.png Click to enlarge the image above. This is the first completed painting of four Revolutionary-era scenes that the U.S.