The Lee Resolution formally proposed independence to the Second Continental Congress in 1776.
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the resolution on June 7, 1776. It declared that the United Colonies should be free and independent states, severing their political connection with Great Britain. Congress debated the proposal while a committee prepared a public explanation of the decision.
Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776. Two days later, it adopted the Declaration of Independence, which explained the reasons for the break and announced them to the world. This is why historians distinguish the legal or political decision on July 2 from the document’s adoption on July 4.
The resolution is less famous than the Declaration, but it is an important step in the sequence commemorated by America250. It shows that independence was first approved as a congressional resolution before the celebrated declaration was finalized.