What committee drafted the Declaration of Independence?

The committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence was the Committee of Five.

The Second Continental Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776, as delegates prepared a formal statement explaining why the colonies were separating from Great Britain. Its members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Although the group was responsible for the draft, Thomas Jefferson wrote most of the initial text.

Jefferson prepared the draft in June and presented it to the other committee members, who reviewed it before the document went to Congress. The committee submitted its version on June 28. Congress then debated and edited the text, removing roughly a quarter of Jefferson’s draft and making other changes before approving the final wording on July 4, 1776.

A common mix-up is answering “Continental Congress.” Congress adopted the Declaration, but the Committee of Five was the specifically appointed drafting committee. Another useful distinction is that independence itself was formally declared through Congress’s vote on the Lee Resolution on July 2; the written Declaration explained and announced that decision. The famous engrossed parchment copy was signed later, beginning on August 2, 1776.