Congress approved the Lee Resolution declaring the American colonies independent on July 2, 1776.
Introduced by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, the resolution stated that the United Colonies were free and independent states and no longer politically connected to Great Britain. The Second Continental Congress adopted it after debate and votes by the colonial delegations.
The July 2 action was the formal political decision for independence. Congress then continued debating the explanatory Declaration of Independence, adopting that document two days later, on July 4. The distinction between the resolution and the Declaration is one of the most important date differences in the founding story.
John Adams believed July 2 would become the great national anniversary, but July 4 became the celebrated date because it marked adoption of the Declaration. America250 therefore commemorates July 4, not July 2.