It includes portraits of most of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence.
The work is currently part of the collections of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
The central figures are the Committee of Five, which was charged by the Second Continental Congress with drafting the Declaration of Independence, including (from left to right): John Adams from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Roger Sherman from Connecticut Colony, Robert R. Livingston from the Province of New York, Thomas Jefferson from the Colony of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin (seated) from the Province of Pennsylvania.
Immediately to the left of Samuel Adams is Samuel Chase from the Province of Maryland, and above Robert Morris (wearing dark) is Benjamin Harrison from the Colony of Virginia.
An engraving based on the painting was made by Edward Savage in 1801, who finished the unpainted portraits.