Today in History: The Call For Independence

Anna Leutheuser / June 07, 2011

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, stood in front of the Second Continental Congress and committed treason by proposing a resolution to declare that “these United States 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.”

John Adams, the most vocal proponent of independence, seconded the motion. In doing so, these men willingly put their own lives at stake to assert that the allegiance King George III claimed of the colonists was illegitimate, and in opposition to the laws of nature.

“Lee’s Resolution,” as it came to be known, is familiar to many as the first official call for independence.  Less well-known are the equally bold words of Lee’s speech which he made to persuade the delegates, but they capture the urgency, courageousness, and determination with an eloquence that deserves attention:

“Why then, sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and to conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace and of law. (more…)