Twelve of the thirteen colonies voted in favor when Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
The vote occurred on July 4, 1776, after the Second Continental Congress had debated the question of independence. New York abstained because its delegates had not yet received authorization from the colony’s convention to vote for independence.
The abstention did not represent permanent opposition. New York later approved the declaration, and the document came to describe the thirteen colonies as free and independent states. The declaration’s famous formal title eventually included the word “unanimous.”
This vote is often mixed up with the earlier independence resolution. Congress voted for independence in principle on July 2, while it adopted the explanatory declaration on July 4. Those two dates are why historical accounts distinguish the independence vote from the document’s adoption.