Continental Congress Appoints Committee of Five

Context

By the spring of 1776 the armed conflict that had begun at Lexington and Concord more than a year earlier showed no sign of quick resolution. British forces controlled Boston until March and then shifted operations toward New York, while colonial governments increasingly looked to the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania State House, for coordinated direction. Delegates remained divided between those still hoping for reconciliation and those ready to sever ties, but the publication of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in January had sharpened arguments for separation across the colonies.

What Happened

On June 7, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution declaring the colonies free and independent states, calling for foreign alliances, and urging the formation of a confederation. Congress postponed a final vote for three weeks to allow time for further consultation with constituents, yet it immediately moved to prepare supporting documents. On June 11 it appointed a five-member committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York. The group was charged with drafting a declaration that would explain the necessity of separation and set forth the political principles on which the new nation would rest. Jefferson, then thirty-three and already known for his skill with language, received the primary responsibility for composing the initial text.

Aftermath

Jefferson completed a draft within roughly two weeks while the committee met in Philadelphia. Adams and Franklin offered revisions, after which the document was submitted to Congress on June 28. Over the following days the full Congress debated both the Lee resolution and the draft declaration, adopting the resolution for independence on July 2 and approving the edited Declaration of Independence on July 4. The text was then printed and distributed, with formal engrossing and signing completed later in the summer.

Legacy

The Committee of Five’s work produced the Declaration of Independence, whose opening paragraphs supplied a concise statement of natural rights and popular sovereignty that later generations invoked in debates over slavery, women’s rights, and civil rights. Its language shaped the founding documents of other nations and remains a touchstone in American civic education and political rhetoric. Historians continue to examine the committee’s composition and Jefferson’s drafting process as a window into the intellectual and political choices that accompanied the colonies’ transformation into an independent republic.