On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a "Committee of Five", consisting of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, to draft a declaration.
A lay brother who escaped from the French invasion warned missionaries in a near by mission about a possible invasion. They overreacted and thought they needed to replace the missions they could lose and sent Marques de Aguayo to create Los Adaes and La Bahia.