Resolved: America Ought To Be Free!
Marion Smith /
By the summer of 1776, Americans were already engaged in open conflict against the British Empire. The Colonies’ efforts to remedy their political grievances by appealing to King and Parliament had failed. It became clear that in order to protect its liberties, America would have to take “command of its own fortunes”, as George Washington would later put it. On June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, stood to present a resolution to the Second Continental Congress gathered at Philadelphia:
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. (more…)