Which five-person group drafted the Declaration of Independence for the Second Continental Congress?

The Committee of Five drafted the Declaration of Independence for the Second Continental Congress.

Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson wrote the initial draft, which the committee reviewed before presenting it to Congress.

Congress then debated and edited the draft before adopting the final text on July 4. The committee’s role was to prepare a declaration explaining the reasons for separation, not to make the final decision to declare independence; that decision came through the Lee Resolution.

The committee is sometimes confused with the Committee of Thirteen, which was associated with developing a proposed constitution for the union. The Committee of Five is specifically linked to the drafting process behind the declaration commemorated by America250.