Which Massachusetts delegate served on the Committee of Five?

The Massachusetts delegate who served on the Committee of Five was John Adams.

Adams was a prominent Massachusetts revolutionary and one of the strongest congressional advocates for independence. He joined Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman on the committee appointed to prepare a declaration for the Second Continental Congress.

Although Jefferson wrote the principal draft, Adams helped shape the committee’s work and later recalled discussing the document with Jefferson. Adams went on to become the first vice president and the second president of the United States, while Jefferson became the third president.

The distractors reflect nearby figures from the revolutionary era. Samuel Adams was also a Massachusetts patriot and delegate, but he was not on the Committee of Five. John Hancock, another Massachusetts leader, presided over Congress and signed the engrossed Declaration. Elbridge Gerry served in Congress and later became vice president, but he likewise was not a committee member.