Thomas Jefferson was the member of the Committee of Five who later became the third U.S. president.
The Second Continental Congress appointed the Committee of Five on June 11, 1776, to prepare a declaration explaining why the colonies were seeking independence. Its members were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.
Jefferson wrote the committee’s initial draft, while Adams and Franklin reviewed and discussed its language with him. Congress then revised the text before adopting the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Jefferson’s role as primary drafter made him especially associated with the document, even though the final wording reflected congressional editing.
Jefferson served as president from 1801 to 1809, following John Adams, who was the second president. Jefferson’s presidency included the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Committee of Five therefore links the drafting of the Declaration with the later leadership of one of the early republic’s most influential presidents.