The Revolutionary War broke out in Massachusetts (Lexington and Concord) on April 19, 1775.
For the first few months of the conflict, the Patriots had carried on their struggle in an ad-hoc and uncoordinated manner. On September 13, 1775, the Second Continental Congress reconvened and assumed leadership of the war effort. They resolved to prepare for war but continued to seek reconciliation.
On June 7, 1776. in accordance with the terms of Virginia’s instructions, Richard Henry Lee, ranking delegate from Virginia, formally proposed independence to Congress. Speaking for his colleagues, Lee introduced the following resolution, written in his own hand and reading:
“Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
“That it is expedient to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign alliances.”
“That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.”
The Lee Resolution, also known as the resolution of independence, was an act of the Second Continental Congress declaring the Thirteen Colonies to be independent of the British Empire. It is the earliest form and draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Because many members of the Congress believed the actions Lee proposed to be premature or wanted instructions from their colonies before voting, approval was deferred.
On June 10, Congress appointed a committee of five to draft a statement of independence for the colonies. The committee included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with the actual writing delegated to Jefferson.
Jefferson drafted the statement between June 11 and 28; he submitted drafts to Adams and Franklin who made some changes, and then presented the draft to the Congress following the July 2nd adoption of the independence section of the Lee Resolution.
On July 1, after a long day of debate, the Congress voted. Each colony had one vote, requiring the delegations to decide among themselves how to cast their single vote. Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted no; New York – whose provincial government was then fleeing the invading British Army – abstained. Delaware’s two delegates were split.
Although a majority of the delegations at this moment voted in favor of the resolution, proponents of independence sought unanimous support.
On July 2, the remaining pieces fell into place. South Carolina reversed course and voted in favor of Lee’s resolution.
Delaware’s Caesar Rodney, in an act memorialized in 1999 on Delaware’s commemorative state quarter, rode through the night to arrive at the State House to break his delegation’s tie in favor of independence.
Within the Pennsylvania delegation, John Dickinson and Robert Morris, both opponents of independence, abstained, leaving Pennsylvania’s delegation 3-to-2 in favor of independence. (Philadelphia Encyclopedia)
The Congress voted unanimously in favor of independence.
After voting on independence, the Continental Congress needed to draft a document explaining the move to the public.
The congressional revision process took all of July 3rd and most of July 4th. Finally, in the afternoon of July 4th, the Declaration was adopted. The words of the Lee Resolution are echoed in the Declaration of Independence. (National Archives)
Officially, the Second Continental Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, when it approved a resolution in a unanimous vote. In the late morning of July 4, 1776, the Declaration had been officially adopted by the Continental Congress.
Some of the delegates – Adams most famously – considered July 2 as the day of American independence. It was July 4, however, when the final editing and wording of the document was approved and sent to Philadelphia printer John Dunlap at his shop at Second and Market Streets for publication. (Philadelphia Encyclopedia)
Under the supervision of the Jefferson committee, the approved Declaration was printed on July 5th and a copy was attached to the “rough journal of the Continental Congress for July 4th.”
These printed copies, bearing only the names of John Hancock, President, and Charles Thomson, secretary, were distributed to state assemblies, conventions, committees of safety, and commanding officers of the Continental troops. (National Archives)
Philadelphians first heard the document on July 8, when John Nixon, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Philadelphia militia, read the Declaration of Independence in the State House Yard.
The public reaction was passionate and widespread. According to historian William Hogeland, the crowd shouted “God bless the free states of North America!” three times. In the ultimate act of defiance, Pennsylvania militiamen removed the king’s coat of arms from the State House and threw it into a large bonfire. (Philadelphia Encyclopedia)
Signing the Declaration of Independence
One of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration is that it was signed that day, by all the delegates in attendance.
The engrossed document is itself largely responsible for the erroneous views which have been held respecting the date of the signing. Being headed by the legend, “In Congress, July 4, 1776,” and ending with the fifty-six signatures, the natural inference to be made, until better information was obtainable, was that this official document was signed on that day.
It is further misinforming, not only as regards the date of signing, but in its title, “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States,” under the date July 4. For on that day, as has been shown, New York s delegates had no authority to vote, so that unanimity was procured by their silence, but twelve colonies, therefore, taking part in the final ballot.” (Friedenwald)
On July 4, 1776, 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor and New York abstaining due to lack of instructions from their Colony.
The Declaration of Independence was unanimously approved when the New York Convention gave its approval on July 9, 1776.
On July 19, Congress was able to order that the Declaration be “fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile [sic] of ‘The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America,’ and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress.”
On August 2, 1776, John Hancock, the President of the Congress, was the first to sign the sheet of parchment measuring 24¼ by 29¾ inches. He used a bold signature centered below the text.
In accordance with prevailing custom, the other delegates began to sign at the right below the text, their signatures arranged according to the geographic location of the states they represented.
On August 2, the journal of the Continental Congress records that “The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed.” Eventually 56 delegates signed, although all were not present on August 2.
New Hampshire, the northernmost state, began the list, and Georgia, the southernmost, ended it.
Most likely, 50 of the 56 signers signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776; five more signed later in 1776. Thomas McKean, the 56th (and last) signer, signed sometime after January 1777. (NPS)
Some of the signers were not present during the July 4 vote; different members made up several of the State delegations. Some of the delegates who voted for declaration of independence did not sign the actual document, and several of those that signed had not voted on July 4. In addition, not all of the delegates were in Philadelphia on August 2.
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