06/07/2026
Today marks the 250th anniversary of the “Lee Resolution”—the first formal step towards the Continental Congress declaring American independence.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, presented a resolution to the Second Continental Congress that declared the thirteen American colonies “free and independent States.”
Lee’s resolution was tabled until July 2, when Congress voted to adopt it and declare independence from Britain. Two days later, on July 4, Congress approved the official document that declared independence. This text was printed for the first time that evening as a broadside and disseminated across the thirteen American states announcing the news of what had transpired—news that echoes 250 years later.