What was the name of the five-member drafting group behind the Declaration featured in America250?
Answer
Committee of Five
The five-member drafting group behind the Declaration featured in America250 was the Committee of Five.
Congress appointed the Committee of Five on June 11, 1776. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. The group presented a draft to Congress for debate and revision.
Jefferson wrote the initial draft, but the final Declaration was a congressional document. Congress made substantial changes before approving the text on July 4, including removing passages and revising the language.
The Committee of Five is sometimes mistaken for a committee that wrote the Constitution. The Constitution’s drafting involved the Constitutional Convention and later the Committee of Detail. The Committee of Five specifically handled the 1776 Declaration.