The Lee Resolution passed on July 2, 1776, an event highlighted in the United States Semiquincentennial story.
The Second Continental Congress approved the resolution in Philadelphia. It declared that the United Colonies were free and independent states, formally separating them from Great Britain. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the proposal in June 1776.
The July 2 vote is sometimes overshadowed by July 4. Congress adopted the final text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, and that date became the national anniversary celebrated as Independence Day. The Declaration explained and announced the decision that the Lee Resolution had already made.
The resolution's wording also explains why some historians describe July 2 as the legal independence date, while July 4 is the date associated with the Declaration. America250 commemorates both the revolutionary decision and the document that publicly expressed it.