For America250, which committee drafted the Declaration of Independence for Congress?

For America250, the Committee of Five drafted the Declaration of Independence for Congress.

The Second Continental Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson produced the principal draft, which the other members reviewed before presenting it to Congress.

The committee did not independently declare independence. Congress debated the draft, made edits, and adopted the final Declaration on July 4. This distinction matters because the document reflects both Jefferson’s prose and the legislative work of the Continental Congress.

The Committee of Five is sometimes confused with the Committee of Thirteen, which Congress appointed around the same period to consider a framework for a union. The committees had different assignments. America250’s focus on the 1776 founding makes the drafting committee a particularly important link between revolutionary debate and the final declaration.