The Committee of Five drafted the Declaration of Independence before the document was adopted in 1776.
The Second Continental Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Jefferson wrote the initial draft, while the other members reviewed it and suggested changes.
The committee presented the draft to Congress on June 28. Congress then debated and revised the text before approving the final wording on July 4. The committee therefore prepared the document, but the full Congress made the final decision and adopted it.
The group is called the Committee of Five because it contained five delegates. It should not be confused with the committees of correspondence that had helped colonists exchange political information before the Revolution, or with later committees created during the war.