New York was the last of the thirteen colonies to authorize support for American independence in 1776.
When Congress voted on the Lee Resolution on July 2, New York’s delegates abstained because they had not received instructions from the colony’s governing body. The abstention meant the resolution was approved by twelve colonies rather than all thirteen.
New York’s Provincial Congress voted on July 9, 1776, to support independence and instructed its delegates to join the other colonies. News of that decision reached the Continental Congress on July 15. New York therefore became the final colony to authorize its delegates, although the Declaration had already been approved on July 4.
The sequence explains why historical accounts distinguish between the vote for independence, the approval of the Declaration’s text, and later authorization by individual colonial governments. These were connected steps, not one single vote held simultaneously everywhere.