The five-member group that drafted the Declaration of Independence for Congress was the Committee of Five.
Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson prepared the initial draft, which the other members reviewed before it went to the full Congress.
The committee’s work was part of a larger process. Congress first considered the case for independence, then debated the draft’s language and removed or changed portions. The completed declaration was approved on July 4, 1776.
The Committee of Five should not be confused with the Second Continental Congress itself. The committee prepared the document, but Congress debated, edited, and formally adopted it. That distinction explains why Jefferson is called the principal author while the declaration is also a congressional act.