The Committee of Five prepared the principal draft of the Declaration of Independence for the America250 milestone.
The Second Continental Congress appointed the committee in June 1776 to write a public explanation of the colonies’ decision to separate from Great Britain. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
Jefferson wrote the main draft, but the committee’s work was collaborative. Adams and Franklin reviewed the draft, and the committee submitted it to Congress. Congress then debated and edited the text before adopting the Declaration on July 4.
The Committee of Five is distinct from the Second Continental Congress, which approved the final document. It is also different from later revolutionary bodies such as the Committee of Correspondence, which helped exchange political information before independence. The committee’s five members provided the drafting team, while Congress exercised final authority.