What was the name of the five-member group appointed to draft the 1776 Declaration of Independence?
Answer
Committee of Five
The five-member group appointed to draft the 1776 Declaration of Independence was the Committee of Five.
The Second Continental Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776. Its members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. They were chosen to prepare a written explanation of the colonies’ decision to seek independence.
Thomas Jefferson produced the main draft, while the other members reviewed it and suggested changes. The committee submitted the document to Congress on June 28, and the full Congress debated and revised it before approving the final version on July 4.
The Committee of Five should not be confused with colonial committees of correspondence, which circulated political information, or committees of safety, which helped manage local revolutionary affairs. Its specific task was drafting the declaration that articulated the political case for independence.