Which Virginia delegate proposed the Lee Resolution?

The Virginia delegate who proposed the Lee Resolution was Richard Henry Lee.

Lee was a prominent Virginia planter, politician, and revolutionary leader who served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. On June 7, 1776, he introduced a resolution calling for the colonies to become free and independent states and to break their political connection with Great Britain.

His proposal followed instructions from the Fifth Virginia Convention. Edmund Pendleton, who presided over that convention, helped transmit the instructions and wording, but he did not propose the resolution in Congress. That distinction explains why Pendleton can appear in accounts of the resolution without being its namesake.

Congress delayed the independence vote for several weeks while delegates worked to secure colonial authorization and support. The resolution passed on July 2, 1776. A Committee of Five, including Thomas Jefferson, prepared the Declaration of Independence, which Congress approved two days later. Lee did not serve on that drafting committee, another reason he is sometimes mistakenly credited with writing the Declaration itself.