Reference Entry
LEE RESOLUTION FOR INDEPENDENCE
In the summer of 1776, the Continental Army was already fighting the British Empire around Boston, New York, and in scattered frontier campaigns. On June 7th, 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee put into words what that fighting increasingly implied, offering a resolution that the united colonies “are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” Debate over his proposal forced Congress to confront the true scale of the conflict and led to the appointment of a committee tasked…
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Lee Resolution for independence
In the summer of 1776, the Continental Army was already fighting the British Empire around Boston, New York, and in scattered frontier campaigns. On June 7th, 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee put into words what that fighting increasingly implied, offering a resolution that the united colonies “are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” Debate over his proposal forced Congress to confront the true scale of the conflict and led to the appointment of a committee tasked with drafting a formal declaration. For soldiers in the field, the Lee Resolution helped align the political aim with their daily reality of campaigning under fire. In the long run it framed the war not as a struggle over representation inside an empire, but as a full bid for national independence, shaping American civil-military traditions ever since.
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