Existing comment:
1776
Declaring Independence
By the spring of 1776, relations between Britain and the colonies had worsened. The war was nearing its first anniversary, the king had rejected American attempts to seek a peaceful settlement, and rumors of a large, invading fleet of British troops and German mercenaries swept through the colonies. Bolstered by the ideas in Common Sense, more and more Americans saw independence as inevitable and called on Congress to sever all ties with Britain.
June 7
In the Second Continental Congress, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution for Congress to declare "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" -- the first formal proposal for American independence. |