A report on United States Declaration of Independence and John Adams

John Adams by Gilbert Stuart c. undefined 1800–1815
Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, as painted by Rembrandt Peale
Adams's birthplace now in Quincy, Massachusetts
The 13 states at the Declaration of Independence
Boston Massacre of 1770 by Alonzo Chappel
The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence depicts the Committee of Five presenting its draft to Congress. Adams is depicted in the center with his hand on his hip.
Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776, an idealized depiction of Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration was widely reprinted (by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900).
The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence
Portable writing desk that Jefferson used to draft and finalize the Declaration of Independence
Adams frequently clashed with Benjamin Franklin over how to manage French relations.
"Declaration House", the reconstructed boarding house at Market and S. 7th Street in Philadelphia, where Jefferson wrote the Declaration
Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West (Adams in front).
The opening of the original printing of the Declaration, printed on July 4, 1776, under Jefferson's supervision. The engrossed copy was made later (shown at the top of this article). The opening lines differ between the two versions.
Adams – 1785 Mather Brown Portrait
English political philosopher John Locke (1632–1704)
Portrait of Adams by John Trumbull, 1793
The signed copy of the Declaration is now badly faded because of poor preserving practices in the 19th century. It is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1795. Washington rarely consulted Vice President Adams, who often felt marginalized and overshadowed by Washington's prestige.
The Syng inkstand, which was used at both the 1776 signing of the Declaration and the 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution, is on display in Philadelphia
1796 presidential election results
On July 4, 1776, Continental Congress President John Hancock's signature authenticated the United States Declaration of Independence.
President's House, Philadelphia. Adams occupied this Philadelphia mansion from March 1797 to May 1800.
Johannes Adam Simon Oertel's painting Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., ca. 1859, depicts citizens destroying a statue of King George after the Declaration was read in New York City on July 9, 1776.
A political cartoon depicts the XYZ Affair – America is a female being plundered by Frenchmen. (1798)
William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence, manumitted his slave, believing that he could not both fight for liberty and own slaves.
Thomas Jefferson, Adams's vice president, attempted to undermine many of his actions as president and eventually defeated him for reelection.
The Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in the National Archives building
Alexander Hamilton's desire for high military rank and his push for war with France put him into conflict with Adams.
a new broadside
1800 presidential election results
John Trumbull's famous 1818 painting is often identified as a depiction of the signing of the Declaration, but it actually shows the drafting committee presenting its work to the Congress.
John Marshall, 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and one of Adams's few dependable allies
United States two-dollar bill (reverse)
John Adams, c. 1816, by Samuel Morse (Brooklyn Museum)
Congressman Abraham Lincoln, 1845–1846
Tombs of John and Abigail Adams (far) and John Quincy and Louisa Adams (near), in family crypt at United First Parish Church
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her two sons (1848)
Peacefield - John Adams' Home
Thoughts on Government (1776)
John Adams by Gilbert Stuart (1823). This portrait was the last made of Adams, done at the request of John Quincy.

John Adams, a leader in pushing for independence, had persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress edited.

- United States Declaration of Independence

He assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

- John Adams

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Portrait by Rembrandt Peale, 1800

Thomas Jefferson

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American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809.

American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809.

Portrait by Rembrandt Peale, 1800
Thomas Jefferson's Coat of Arms
Wren Building, College of William & Mary where Jefferson studied
House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, Virginia, where Jefferson served 1769–1775
Jefferson's home Monticello in Virginia
Jefferson's daughter Martha
U.S. Declaration of Independence – 1823 facsimile of the engrossed copy
Governor's Palace, Governor Jefferson's residence in Williamsburg
Independence Hall Assembly Room where Jefferson served in Congress
Portrait of Thomas Jefferson while in London in 1786 at 44 by Mather Brown
Thomas Jefferson in 1791 at 48 by Charles Willson Peale
1796 election results
Jefferson in 1799 at 57, painted by Charles Peale Polk
1800 election results
President Thomas Jefferson Peale 1805 Reproduction
Barbary Coast of North Africa 1806. Left is Morocco at Gibraltar, center is Tunis, and right is Tripoli.
The 1803 Louisiana Purchase totaled 827,987 sqmi, doubling the size of the United States.
Corps of Discovery, October 1805 (by Charles Marion Russell, 1905)
map
Black Hoof, leader of the Shawnee, accepted Jefferson's Indian assimilation policies.
1804 Electoral College vote
1802 portrait of Aaron Burr by John Vanderlyn
HMS Leopard (right) firing upon USS Chesapeake
A political cartoon showing merchants dodging the "Ograbme", which is "Embargo" spelled backwards (1807)
Portrait of Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart, 1821.
The University of Virginia, Jefferson's "Academical Village"
In 1804, Abigail Adams attempted to reconcile Jefferson and Adams.
Lafayette in 1824, portrait by Ary Scheffer, hanging in U.S. House of Representatives
Jefferson's gravesite
Thomas Jefferson at age 78. Portrait by Thomas Sully hanging at West Point, commissioned by Faculty and Cadets, 1821.
The Jefferson Bible featuring only the words of Jesus from the evangelists, in parallel Greek, Latin, French and English
Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart in 1805
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, national bank proponent and Jefferson's adversary
Jefferson's 1795 Farm Book, page 30, lists 163 slaves at Monticello.
Jefferson depicted as a rooster, and Hemings as a hen
Virginia State Capitol, designed by Jefferson (wings added later)
Mount Rushmore National Memorial (left to right): George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln
Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Statue, by Rudulph Evans (1947)
Jefferson on the $2 bill
alt=Commemorative stone erected at Thomas Jefferson's birthplace in Shadwell, Virginia, on April 13, 1929.|Jefferson's Birthplace
Albert Gallatin Jefferson's Treasury economic architect Stuart 1803

He was previously the second vice president of the United States under John Adams and the first United States secretary of state under George Washington.

The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation.

Eastern North America in 1775. The Province of Quebec, the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic coast, and the Indian Reserve as defined by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The border between the red and pink areas represents the 1763 "Proclamation line", while the orange area represents the Spanish claim.

American Revolution

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Ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791.

Ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791.

Eastern North America in 1775. The Province of Quebec, the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic coast, and the Indian Reserve as defined by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The border between the red and pink areas represents the 1763 "Proclamation line", while the orange area represents the Spanish claim.
New borders drawn by the Royal Proclamation of 1763
Notice of the Stamp Act 1765 in a colonial newspaper
Letter III of John Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, December 1767
On June 9, 1772, the Sons of Liberty burned HMS Gaspee, a British customs schooner in Narragansett Bay
The December 16, 1773 Boston Tea Party, led by Samuel Adams and Sons of Liberty, has become a mainstay of American patriotic lore.
A 1774 etching from The London Magazine depicts Prime Minister Lord North, author of the Boston Port Act, forcing the Intolerable Acts down the throat of America, whose arms are restrained by Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, and a tattered "Boston Petition" lays trampled on the ground beside her. Lord Sandwich pins down her feet and peers up her robes; behind them, Mother Britannia weeps while France and Spain look on
Join, or Die, a political cartoon attributed to Benjamin Franklin was used to encourage the Thirteen Colonies to unite against British rule
Johannes Adam Simon Oertel's painting Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., circa 1859
The British fleet amassing off Staten Island in New York Harbor in the summer of 1776, depicted in Harper's Magazine in 1876
The Staten Island Peace Conference in September 1776 depicted in a drawing by Alonzo Chappel
Washington crossing the Delaware on December 25–26, 1776, depicted in Emanuel Leutze's 1851 painting
Hessian troops hired out to the British by their German sovereigns
The 1781 siege of Yorktown ended with the surrender of a second British army, marking effective British defeat.
Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West portrays the American delegation about to sign the 1783 Treaty of Paris (John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, W.T. Franklin). The British delegation refused to pose and the painting was never completed
Last page of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War
Robert Morris statue honoring American founding father and financier Robert Morris at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia
The September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution at Independence Hall in Philadelphia depicted in Howard Chandler Christy's 1940 painting, Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States
Portrait of Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury
Samuel Adams points at the Massachusetts Charter, which he viewed as a constitution that protected the people's rights, in this c. 1772 portrait by John Singleton Copley
Patriots tar and feather Loyalist John Malcolm depicted in a 1774 painting
George III as depicted in a 1781 portrait
Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in January 1776
Mercy Otis Warren published poems and plays that attacked royal authority and urged colonists to resist British rule
Louis XVI King of France and Navarre
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was a former Prussian army officer who served as inspector general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with teaching the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline beginning at Valley Forge in 1778, considered a turning point for the Americans.
Thayendanegea, a Mohawk military and political leader, was the most prominent indigenous leader opposing the Patriot forces.
The painting Crispus Attucks (c.1943), by Herschel Levit depicts Attucks who is considered to be the first American to die for the cause of independence in the Revolution
An African-American soldier (left) of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely regarded as the first Black battalion in U.S. military history
The American Revolution was part of the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions, an 18th and 19th century revolutionary wave in the Atlantic World
A Lexington, Massachusetts memorial to Prince Estabrook, who was wounded in the Battle of Lexington and Concord and was the first Black casualty of the Revolutionary War
This postage stamp, which was created at the time of the bicentennial, honors Salem Poor, who was an enslaved African-American man who purchased his freedom, became a soldier, and rose to fame as a war hero during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
British Loyalists fleeing to British Canada as depicted in this early 20th century drawing
A 1976 United States Bicentennial logo commemorating the American Revolution's 200th anniversary
A five-dollar banknote issued by the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

The Continental Congress declared British King George III a tyrant who trampled the colonists' rights as Englishmen, and they pronounced the colonies free and independent states on July 4, 1776.

The soldiers were tried and acquitted (defended by John Adams), but the widespread descriptions soon began to turn colonial sentiment against the British.

Articles of Confederation

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Agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government.

Agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government.

1977 13-cent U.S. Postage stamp commemorating the Articles of Confederation bicentennial; the draft was completed on November 15, 1777
The Act of the Maryland legislature to ratify the Articles of Confederation, February 2, 1781
Preamble to Art. V, Sec. 1
Art. V, Sec. 2 to Art. VI
Art. VII to Art. IX, Sec. 2
Art. IX, Sec. 2 to Sec. 5
Art. IX, Sec. 5 to Art. XIII, Sec. 2
Art. XIII, Sec. 2 to signatures

Congress then created three overlapping committees to draft the Declaration, a model treaty, and the Articles of Confederation.

Many of the most prominent national leaders, such as Washington, John Adams, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin, retired from public life, served as foreign delegates, or held office in state governments; and for the general public, local government and self-rule seemed quite satisfactory.

Portrait based on the unfinished Athenaeum Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, 1796

George Washington

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American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

Portrait based on the unfinished Athenaeum Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, 1796
Ferry Farm, the residence of the Washington family on the Rappahannock River
Lieutenant Colonel Washington holds night council at Fort Necessity
Washington the Soldier: Lieutenant Colonel Washington on horseback during the Battle of the Monongahela (oil, Reǵnier, 1834)
Colonel George Washington, by Charles Willson Peale, 1772
Martha Washington based on a 1757 portrait by John Wollaston
General Washington, Commander of the Continental Army by Charles Willson Peale (1776)
Washington taking command of the Continental Army, just before the siege.
Battle of Long Island Alonzo Chappel (1858)
Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze (1851)
The Passage of the Delaware, by Thomas Sully, 1819 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
See map
The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776 by John Trumbull
Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge, by John Ward Dunsmore (1907)
Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth, Emanuel Leutze (1851–1854)
An engraving of Washington, likely made after his tenure in the army.
French King Louis XVI allied with Washington and Patriot American colonists
Siege of Yorktown, Generals Washington and Rochambeau give last orders before the attack
General George Washington Resigning His Commission, by John Trumbull, 1824
Shays' Rebellion confirmed for Washington the need to overhaul the Articles of Confederation.
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States by Howard Chandler Christy, 1940. Washington is the presiding officer standing at right.
President George Washington, Gilbert Stuart (1795)
The President's House in Philadelphia was Washington's residence from 1790 to 1797
John Jay, negotiator of the Jay Treaty
Seneca chief Red Jacket was Washington's peace emissary with the Northwestern Confederacy.
Battle of Fallen Timbers by R. F. Zogbaum, 1896. The Ohio Country was ceded to America in its aftermath.
USS Constitution: Commissioned and named by President Washington in 1794
Washington's Farewell Address (September 19, 1796)
distillery
Washington on his Deathbed Junius Brutus Stearns 1799
Miniature of George Washington by Robert Field (1800)
The sarcophagi of George (right) and Martha Washington at the present tomb's entrance
The Washington Family by Edward Savage (c. 1789–1796) George and Martha Washington with her grandchildren. National Art Gallery
George Washington's bookplate with the Coat of arms of the Washington family
George Washington as Master of his Lodge, 1793
Washington as Farmer at Mount Vernon Junius Brutus Stearns, 1851
Runaway advertisement for Oney Judge, enslaved servant in Washington's presidential household
In 1794, Washington privately expressed to Tobias Lear, his secretary, that he found slavery to be repugnant.
Washington, the Constable by Gilbert Stuart (1797)
A drawing from a Japanese manuscript of Washington fighting a tiger.
Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.
nation's first postage stamps
Washington issue of 1862
Washington–Franklin issue of 1917
Washington quarter dollar
George Washington Presidential one-dollar coin
Washington on the 1928 dollar bill

Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, and Samuel and John Adams nominated Washington to become its commander-in-chief.

After the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, Washington informed his troops in his general orders of July9 that Congress had declared the united colonies to be "free and independent states".

Declaration of Independence, an 1819 painting by John Trumbull, depicts the Committee of Five (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston) presenting their draft to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776

Founding Fathers of the United States

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The Founding Fathers of the United States, or simply the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, led the war for independence from Great Britain, and crafted a framework of government for the new United States of America during the later decades of the 18th century.

The Founding Fathers of the United States, or simply the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, led the war for independence from Great Britain, and crafted a framework of government for the new United States of America during the later decades of the 18th century.

Declaration of Independence, an 1819 painting by John Trumbull, depicts the Committee of Five (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston) presenting their draft to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776
Signature page of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 that was negotiated on behalf of the United States by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay
The Albany Congress of 1754 was a conference attended by seven colonies, which presaged later efforts at cooperation. The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 included representatives from nine colonies.
Portraits and autograph signatures of the framers and signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy (1940)
Benjamin Franklin, an early advocate of colonial unity, was a foundational figure in defining the US ethos and exemplified the emerging nation's ideals.
Robert R. Livingston, member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence.
Alexander Hamilton served as Washington's senior aide-de-camp during most of the Revolutionary War; wrote 51 of the 85 articles comprising the Federalist Papers; and created much of the administrative framework of the government.
John Jay was president of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779 and negotiated the Treaty of Paris with Adams and Franklin.
James Madison, called the "Father of the Constitution" by his contemporaries
Peyton Randolph, as president of the Continental Congress, presided over creation of the Continental Association.
Richard Henry Lee, who introduced the Lee Resolution in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain
John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, renowned for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence
John Dickinson authored the first draft of the Articles of Confederation in 1776 while serving in the Continental Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania, and signed them late the following year, after being elected to Congress as a delegate from Delaware.
Henry Laurens was president of the Continental Congress when the Articles were passed on November 15, 1777.
Roger Sherman, a member of the Committee of Five, the only person who signed all four U.S. founding documents.
Robert Morris, president of Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety and one of the founders of the financial system of the United States.
George Washington and his valet slave William Lee, by John Trumbull, 1780
Death age of the Founding Fathers
Abigail Adams, close advisor to her husband John Adams
George Mason, author of the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights and co-father of the United States Bill of Rights
First Continental Congress at prayer, by T. H. Matteson, 1848

Most historians recognize prominent leaders of the revolutionary era such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.

In addition, Signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are widely credited with the nation's founding, while other scholars include all delegates to the Constitutional Convention whether they signed the Constitution or not.

Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis, 1778

Benjamin Franklin

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Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis, 1778
La scuola della economia e della morale sketch of Franklin, 1825
Benjamin Franklin (center) at work on a printing press. Reproduction of a Charles Mills painting by the Detroit Publishing Company.
William Franklin (1730-1813), son of Benjamin Franklin
Franklin's The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle (January 1741)
Robert Feke's 1748 painting of Franklin
This Join, or Die by Franklin urged the colonies to join the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War). It later served as a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolution.
In 1751, Franklin co-founded Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, one of the first hospitals in the United States (depicted in this engaving by William Strickland, 1755)
Seal of the College of Philadelphia
Sketch of the original Tun Tavern
First U. S. postage stamp, issue of 1847, honoring Benjamin Franklin.
Pass, signed by Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin, gave William Goddard the authority to travel as needed to investigate and inspect postal routes and protect the mail.
Pennsylvania colonial currency printed by Franklin and David Hall in 1764
Franklin in London, 1767, wearing a blue suit with elaborate gold braid and buttons, a far cry from the simple dress he affected at the French court in later years. Painting by David Martin, displayed in the White House.
John Trumbull depicts the Committee of Five presenting their work to the Congress.
Franklin, in his fur hat, charmed the French with what they perceived as rustic New World genius.
While in France, Franklin designed and commissioned Augustin Dupré to engrave the medallion Libertas Americana, minted in Paris in 1783.
Franklin's return to Philadelphia, 1785, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Gouverneur Morris signs the Constitution before Washington. Franklin is behind Morris. Painting by Hintermeister, 1925.
Franklin's grave, Philadelphia
Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky c. 1816 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, by Benjamin West
Franklin and Electricity vignette engraved by the BEP (c. 1860)
An illustration from Franklin's paper on "Water-spouts and Whirlwinds"
A bust of Franklin by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778
Voltaire blessing Franklin's grandson, in the name of God and Liberty, by Pedro Américo, 1889–90
Benjamin Franklin by Hiram Powers
Dr Richard Price, the radical minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church, holding a letter from Franklin
Franklin bust in the Archives Department of Columbia University in New York City
Glass harmonica
Franklin on the Series 2009 hundred dollar bill
Marble memorial statue, Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
commemorative stamps
Life-size bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin (seated with cane) in the National Constitution Center, Philadelphia

Benjamin Franklin ( – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the first United States Postmaster General.

John Adams noted that he was a mirror in which people saw their own religion: "The Catholics thought him almost a Catholic. The Church of England claimed him as one of them. The Presbyterians thought him half a Presbyterian, and the Friends believed him a wet Quaker."

In this c. 1772 portrait by John Singleton Copley, Adams points at the Massachusetts Charter, which he viewed as a constitution that protected the peoples' rights.

Samuel Adams

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American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States.

American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States.

In this c. 1772 portrait by John Singleton Copley, Adams points at the Massachusetts Charter, which he viewed as a constitution that protected the peoples' rights.
While at Harvard, Adams boarded at Massachusetts Hall.
The Old South Meeting House (1968 photo shown) was Adams's church. During the crisis with Great Britain, mass meetings were held here that were too large for Faneuil Hall.
Anne Whitney, Samuel Adams, bronze and granite statue, 1880, located in front of Faneuil Hall, which was the home of the Boston Town Meeting
Paul Revere's 1768 engraving of British troops arriving in Boston was reprinted throughout the colonies.
Samuel Adams as he looked in 1795 when he was Governor of Massachusetts. The original portrait was destroyed by fire; this is a mezzotint copy.
This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitled "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"; the phrase "Boston Tea Party" had not yet become standard.
Adams as portrayed by Paul Revere, 1774. Yale University Art Gallery.
In John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, Adams is seated to the viewer's right of Richard Henry Lee, whose legs are crossed in the front row.
Samuel Adams grave marker in the Granary Burying Ground

He was a second cousin to his fellow Founding Father, President John Adams.

He helped guide Congress towards issuing the Continental Association in 1774 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and he helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Massachusetts Constitution.

The Committee of Five present their work, June 1776, detail of John Trumbulls 1819 painting ''Declaration of Independence

Committee of Five

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The Committee of Five present their work, June 1776, detail of John Trumbulls 1819 painting ''Declaration of Independence
The Committee of Five is depicted on the pediment of the Jefferson Memorial in a sculpture by Adolph Alexander Weinman
Sherman, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, and Livingston
Congress Voting Independence, by Robert Edge Pine (1784–1788), depicts the Committee of Five in the center
Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776, Jean Leon Gerome Ferris' idealized 1900 depiction of (left to right) Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson of the Committee of Five working on the Declaration.
The Committee of Five presents their work to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. Painting by John Trumbull (1819)
The Committee of Five, pictured on an 1869 U.S. 24-cent postage stamp, also appear on the present two-dollar bill.

''The Committee of Five of the Second Continental Congress was a group of five members who drafted and presented to the full Congress what would become the United States Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.

The Committee was composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.

1876 Currier & Ives printing of Washington being promoted to commanding general

Second Continental Congress

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Meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies in America that united in the American Revolutionary War.

Meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies in America that united in the American Revolutionary War.

1876 Currier & Ives printing of Washington being promoted to commanding general
John Trumbull's 1819 painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee presenting the Declaration of Independence to Congress
South facade of Independence Hall (formerly the Pennsylvania Statehouse), Philadelphia, principal meeting site of the Second Continental Congress
1977 13-cent U.S. Postage stamp commemorating the Articles of Confederation bicentennial; the draft was completed in York (formerly York Town), Pennsylvania on November 15, 1777
A five-dollar banknote issued by the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

All thirteen colonies were represented by the time the Congress adopted the Lee Resolution which declared independence from Britain on July 2, 1776, and the congress agreed to the Declaration of Independence two days later.

On May 15, they adopted a more radical preamble to this resolution, drafted by John Adams, which advised throwing off oaths of allegiance and suppressing the authority of the Crown in any colonial government that still derived its authority from the Crown.

"The Resolution for Independence agreed to July 2, 1776". The marks at the bottom right indicate the 12 colonies that voted for independence. The Province of New York abstained.

Lee Resolution

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The formal assertion passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776 which resolved that the Thirteen Colonies in America were "free and independent States", separated from the British Empire and creating what became the United States of America.

The formal assertion passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776 which resolved that the Thirteen Colonies in America were "free and independent States", separated from the British Empire and creating what became the United States of America.

"The Resolution for Independence agreed to July 2, 1776". The marks at the bottom right indicate the 12 colonies that voted for independence. The Province of New York abstained.
Richard Henry Lee proposed the resolution on June 7, 1776.

The Declaration of Independence is the formal document which officially announced and explained the resolution, approved two days later on July 4, 1776.

On June 11, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston were appointed as the Committee of Five to accomplish this.