American colonies declare independence, July 2, 1776
Nearly a month earlier Richard Henry Lee had offered to the Second Continental Congress a resolution officially declaring the colonies to be independent from Great Britain. The vote had been postponed, but a committee had been named to write a Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson’s draft had been delivered four days before, and debated for two days. Now the Lee Resolution is up for a vote. With twelve yeas and one abstention, from New York, the thirteen colonies unite to proclaim themselves independent. John Adams writes that the day “will be the most memorable Epocha in the history of America.”