The 1776 resolution that preceded the Declaration of Independence, a milestone remembered by America250, was the Lee Resolution.
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the resolution in the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. It proposed that the United Colonies should be free and independent states, that foreign alliances should be sought, and that a plan of confederation should be prepared.
Congress approved the independence portion on July 2, 1776. Two days later, on July 4, it adopted the Declaration of Independence, which explained the reasons for separation and presented the decision to the public. This distinction is important: July 2 was the formal vote for independence, while July 4 became the date printed on the Declaration and the date observed as Independence Day.
The Lee Resolution is sometimes overshadowed by the Declaration itself. The resolution supplied the political decision, while the Declaration supplied the public statement and philosophical justification. Both events form part of the founding story commemorated during the semiquincentennial.