The Committee of Five drafted and presented the Declaration of Independence, a founding document honored by America250.
The Second Continental Congress appointed the group on June 11, 1776. Its members were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman, representing five different colonies.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the principal first draft, but the document was a committee product and was then revised by Congress. The committee presented its draft on June 28, after which delegates debated and edited the text.
The group should not be confused with the full Continental Congress, which adopted the Declaration, or with the later group of signers. Its role was specifically to prepare and submit the declaration explaining independence.