The Continental Congress approved the Lee Resolution for independence on July 2, 1776.
Introduced by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, the resolution declared that the United Colonies should be free and independent states. Congress’s vote severed the colonies’ political connection with Great Britain before the explanatory Declaration was finalized.
John Adams believed July 2 would become the great American anniversary because it marked the actual decision for independence. Instead, the public came to celebrate July 4, the date Congress approved the Declaration’s final wording.
The Lee Resolution and the Declaration are therefore related but distinct. The resolution stated the political decision; the Declaration explained the reasons and principles behind that decision.