Congress passed the Lee Resolution on July 2, 1776.
The resolution, proposed by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, declared that the United Colonies were free and independent states and no longer subject to Great Britain. The Second Continental Congress approved its independence section after weeks of debate and efforts to secure colonial support.
The Declaration of Independence followed two days later. It provided a formal explanation and justification for the decision that the Lee Resolution had already made. The different dates are why historians distinguish the legal-political independence vote from the adoption of the famous explanatory document.
John Adams believed July 2 would become the great anniversary of American independence. Instead, public celebrations centered on July 4, the day Congress approved the Declaration’s final text. America250 therefore uses July 4, 2026, as its principal anniversary date, even though the earlier independence resolution passed on July 2.