Lee Resolution proposes independence

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia rose in the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia and proposed that the colonies were and of right ought to be free and independent states. Congress postponed a final decision while committees prepared both a declaration and a possible plan of confederation. Lee's resolution placed the question of independence squarely before the continental delegates for the first time in formal legislative language.

The resolution intensified the political break inside Congress by forcing delegates to decide whether war with Britain still aimed at reconciliation or had become a struggle for separate nationhood. Supporters of independence used the growing influence of Common Sense, state instructions, and the military reality of 1776 to press the issue forward. The proposal therefore became the legislative hinge between colonial resistance and national independence.

Lee's motion led directly to Congress's vote for independence on July 2, 1776 and to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. It also helped set Congress on the path toward drafting the Articles of Confederation as a frame for the new states.