The Lee Resolution formally authorized American independence on July 2, 1776.
Introduced by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, the resolution stated that the United Colonies should be free and independent states. The Second Continental Congress approved it two days before adopting the Declaration of Independence.
July 4 became the familiar national anniversary because that was the date Congress adopted the Declaration, the public statement explaining the reasons for separation. John Adams even predicted that July 2 would be celebrated, but history attached the holiday to the Declaration’s date instead.
The distinction matters for America250 because the 2026 observance commemorates the Declaration’s 250th anniversary on July 4, while the legal-political decision to declare independence occurred on July 2. These were related but separate steps in 1776.