<Li> Robert Livingston, representative of New York--negotiated the Louisiana Purchase as the Minister to France </Li> <P> The delegates of the United Colonies in Congress resolved to postpone until Monday, July 1, the final consideration of whether or not to declare the several sovereign independencies of the United Colonies, which had been proposed by the North Carolina resolutions of April 12 and the Virginia resolutions of May 15 . The proposal, known as the Lee Resolution, was moved in Congress on June 7 by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia . During these allotted three weeks Congress agreed to appoint a committee to draft a broadside statement to proclaim to the world the reasons for taking America out of the British Empire, if the Congress were to declare the said sovereign independencies . The actual declaration of "American Independence" is precisely the text comprising the final paragraph of the published broadside of July 4 . The broadside's final paragraph repeated the text of the Lee Resolution as adopted by the declaratory resolve voted on July 2 . </P> <P> On June 11, the Committee of Five was appointed: John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert Livingston of New York, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia . Because the committee left no minutes, there is some uncertainty about how the drafting process proceeded--accounts written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, although frequently cited, are contradictory and not entirely reliable . </P> <P> Certainly the committee, after discussing the general outline that the document should follow, decided that Jefferson would write the first draft . With Congress's busy schedule, Jefferson had limited time to write the draft over the ensuing 17 days . He then consulted with the others on the committee, who reviewed the draft and made extensive changes . Jefferson then produced another copy incorporating these alterations . </P>

Who was appointed to draft the declaration of independence and what are they referred to as