The Second Continental Congress adopted the Lee Resolution on July 2, 1776.
Proposed by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, the resolution declared that the United Colonies were free and independent states and that their political connection with Great Britain should be dissolved. Its passage was the formal congressional decision for independence.
The Declaration of Independence followed two days later. The Declaration explained the reasons for independence and presented them to the world, while the Lee Resolution supplied the decisive political action behind the break with Britain.
The resolution is sometimes overshadowed by July 4 celebrations. John Adams even predicted that July 2 would become the great anniversary, but American celebrations instead centered on July 4, the date Congress approved the Declaration’s final text.