Who proposed the Lee Resolution that led Congress toward American independence in 1776?

Richard Henry Lee proposed the Lee Resolution that led Congress toward American independence in 1776.

Lee, a Virginia delegate, introduced the resolution in the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. Its central clause declared that the United Colonies should become “free and independent States” and end their political connection with Great Britain.

Congress postponed the independence vote for several weeks because delegates from several colonies lacked authorization to support it. While the question was pending, Congress appointed the Committee of Five to prepare a declaration explaining the break with Britain. The resolution passed on July 2, 1776, while the Declaration of Independence was approved two days later.

The resolution is sometimes overshadowed by the Declaration, but it performed a different job. Lee’s measure formally asserted independence; the Declaration supplied the explanation and list of grievances. Lee later served in the Continental Congress and the Virginia House of Delegates, but he declined to sign the engrossed Declaration because he was away from Congress in 1776.