While we may celebrate the 4th of July, when the Declaration of Independence was approved, the actual resolution for American independence was approved two days later, and exactly a quarter of a millennium ago on this very day.
“On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution ‘that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states,’ acting under the instruction of the Virginia Convention. The Lee Resolution contained three parts: a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances, and “a plan for confederation.”
“On June 11, 1776, the Congress appointed three concurrent committees in response to the Lee Resolution: one to draft a declaration of independence, a second to draw up a plan ‘for forming foreign alliances,’ and a third to ‘prepare and digest the form of a confederation.’
“Because many members of the Congress believed the actions Lee proposed to be premature or wanted instructions from their colonies before voting, approval was deferred until July 2. On that date, Congress adopted the first part (the declaration). The words of the Lee Resolution are echoed in the Declaration of Independence.
“The document seen here shows the vote on the Lee Resolution — the affirmative votes of 12 colonies are listed at the right. New York cast no vote until the newly elected New York Convention upheld the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776.”
Adoption of the Resolution Calling for Independence from England; 7/2/1776; Reports on Administrative Affairs of the Congress; Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774 – 1789; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, Record Group 360; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.
For freedom.
