The Lee Resolution formally declared the Thirteen Colonies independent before the Declaration was adopted.
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the resolution in the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. Its central proposal stated that the colonies should be free and independent states, released from political connection with Great Britain.
Congress approved the resolution on July 2, 1776. Two days later, it adopted the Declaration of Independence, which explained and justified the decision in a fuller public document. The dates are often blurred because July 4 became the celebrated national holiday.
The resolution was named for Lee, but it was not a complete declaration in the later document’s literary sense. It was the formal political action that authorized independence, while the Declaration supplied the argument and announcement.