Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed the Lee Resolution for independence in the Second Continental Congress.
Lee introduced the resolution on June 7, 1776, after receiving instructions from the Virginia Convention. John Adams seconded it. Its first section declared that the United Colonies should become free and independent states, while the full proposal also addressed foreign alliances and a plan of confederation.
Congress delayed the independence vote for several weeks while delegates sought authorization from their colonies. On July 2, Congress approved the resolution declaring independence. Two days later, it approved the Declaration of Independence, which explained the reasons for the break with Britain.
Richard Henry Lee is sometimes confused with Thomas Jefferson because Jefferson drafted most of the Declaration’s text. Lee proposed the formal independence resolution; Jefferson was the principal writer of the later explanatory document.