Five members served on the Committee of Five that drafted the declaration celebrated by America250.
The committee consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. The Second Continental Congress appointed them on June 11, 1776, to prepare a document explaining independence.
Jefferson wrote the first draft, but the committee as a whole reviewed it before presenting it to Congress on June 28. Congress then made further edits before adopting the final text on July 4.
The committee should not be confused with the larger Second Continental Congress or with the five-person group depicted in John Trumbull's famous painting. Trumbull's painting represents the presentation of the draft, while the committee was the actual drafting body.