The group appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence was the Committee of Five.
The Second Continental Congress created the committee in June 1776 after deciding that a formal explanation of independence was needed. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
Jefferson wrote the main draft, while the other members reviewed and discussed it. The committee presented the draft to Congress on June 28, 1776. Congress then debated and revised the wording before adopting the Declaration on July 4.
The Committee of Five is different from the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation and from the Continental Congress itself. Remembering the five members also helps explain why Jefferson is credited as the principal author without being described as the document's sole author.