Which five-person group drafted the United States Declaration of Independence for Congress?

The Committee of Five drafted the United States Declaration of Independence for Congress.

Congress appointed the committee on June 11, 1776. Its members were Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. The group represented several colonies and brought different political and legal experiences to the assignment.

The committee asked Jefferson to prepare the initial draft because he was regarded as a strong writer and a leading advocate of independence. Adams and Franklin reviewed the draft, and the committee presented it to Congress on June 28. Congress subsequently made numerous changes during debate.

The Committee of Five should not be confused with the broader Second Continental Congress, which debated and adopted the document. Nor should it be confused with colonial committees of correspondence, which helped coordinate resistance before independence. The committee's role was specifically to prepare the explanatory declaration.