| | 1 | Author: | Becker
Carl Lotus
1873-1945 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Declaration of independence  | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | It is often forgotten that the document which
we know as the Declaration of Independence is
not the official act by which the Continental
Congress voted in favor of separation from Great
Britain. June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, on
behalf of the Virginia delegation, submitted to
the Continental Congress three resolutions, of
which the first declared 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."1
1Journals of Congress (Ford ed.), V, 424.
This resolution, which
may conveniently be called the Resolution of
Independence, was finally voted by the Continental
Congress on the 2 of July, 1776.2
2Ibid., 507.
Strictly
speaking, this was the official declaration of independence;
and if we were a nation of antiquaries
we should no doubt find an incongruity
in celebrating the anniversary of our independence
on the 4 of July. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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