The Lee Resolution formally declared the Thirteen Colonies free and independent states in 1776.
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the independence resolution in the Second Continental Congress. Congress approved its independence section on July 2, 1776, declaring that the colonies were separated from the British Empire. The resolution is also called the Resolution for Independence.
The Lee Resolution and the Declaration of Independence are closely related but not identical. The resolution made the legal and political decision to pursue independence; the Declaration, approved two days later, explained the reasons and principles behind that decision. The resolution originally contained three related parts: independence, foreign alliances, and a plan of confederation. Congress handled those subjects separately over the following months and years. July 2 was therefore the date of the formal independence vote, while July 4 became the celebrated date because Congress approved the Declaration’s final text then.