For America’s 250th anniversary, the Lee Resolution formally declared the thirteen colonies independent from Great Britain.
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the resolution in the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. Its central proposal stated that the United Colonies should be free and independent states, separated from the British Empire. Congress appointed committees to consider the proposal and the wording of a separate declaration explaining the reasons for independence.
Congress adopted the independence resolution on July 2, 1776, two days before approving the Declaration of Independence. This distinction explains why historians separate the legal or political vote for independence from the document that announced and justified it. The resolution is named for Lee, but the decision resulted from debate and a congressional vote rather than from Lee acting alone.