The Committee of Five prepared the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Second Continental Congress appointed the committee on June 11 to draft a statement explaining the colonies’ decision to separate from Great Britain.
Its members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. The committee selected Jefferson to write the initial draft, which the others reviewed before it went to Congress. Jefferson’s draft was presented on June 28, 1776.
The Committee of Five did not make the final political decision to declare independence; Congress debated, edited, and adopted the Declaration. The committee’s name is sometimes confused with the broader group of Founding Fathers involved in independence, but it specifically refers to these five delegates. The Declaration was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.