Totally Dissolved: The Forgotten Vote for Independence

We celebrate Independence on the Fourth of July. But the actual vote to secede from the British Empire and become “free and independent states” – happened on July 2nd, 1776.

Twelve colonies voted in favor. None opposed. New York abstained because its delegates had not yet received new instructions.

The political connection to Britain was over. The deed was done.

The resolution came from Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. He stood before the Second Continental Congress with direct instructions from his state: declare independence, pursue foreign alliances, and propose a plan of confederation.

That wasn’t political theater. That was constitutional authority, exercised in plain view.

John Adams seconded the motion on the spot. And as soon as it passed, he wrote home to Abigail:

“Yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America, and a greater perhaps, never was or will be decided among Men.”

He wasn’t talking about July 4th. He was talking about the vote – July 2nd.

THE FUSE WAS ALREADY LIT

Lee wasn’t leading a rebellion. He was carrying out orders. By the time he introduced his resolution on June 7, independence was already underway.

North Carolina moved first. On April 12, 1776, its Fourth Provincial Congress adopted the Halifax Resolves – the first official act by any colony to authorize a vote for independence. Their delegates weren’t told to negotiate. They were told to vote yes.

Just days later, John Penn wrote from Halifax to John Adams:

“We are endeavouring to form a Constitution as it is thought necessary to exert all the powers of Government, you may expect it will be a popular one.”

Then came Congress. On May 10, it passed a resolution drafted by John Adams and backed by Lee. It told colonies where royal government had collapsed to set up new governments under their own authority – a de facto declaration of independence in all but name.

Adams called it “the most important Resolution, that ever was taken in America.”

Congress adopted a formal preamble to the May 10 resolution, and Adams was the driving pen behind it. The message wasn’t subtle: British authority was finished, and power now flowed from the people.

“The exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted, under the authority of the people of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order, as well as for the defence of their lives, liberties, and properties, against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies.”

Virginia didn’t wait. On May 15, its revolutionary convention told its delegates to move for independence, back foreign alliances, and help organize a confederation.

That same resolution also called for the creation of a Declaration of Rights and a new constitution for Virginia – “such a plan of government as will be most likely to maintain peace and order in this colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty to the people.”

No slogans. No spectacle. Just orders – issued and obeyed.

They marked the moment by pulling down the British flag in Williamsburg and raising the Continental banner. Troops fired artillery salutes.

Lee described it in a letter to Adams: “The British flag on the Capitol was immediately Struck and the Continental hoisted in its room. The troops were drawn out and we had a discharge of Artillery and small arms.”

Independence wasn’t theory. It was policy.

THE LEE RESOLUTION

On June 7, with orders in hand from Virginia, Richard Henry Lee stood and introduced the motion:

“Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States…”

This wasn’t symbolism. It was secession. And it was spelled out in black and white.

“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.”

But they didn’t stop with secession. They planned for survival. That meant securing allies and building a union strong enough to stand.

“That it is expedient forthwith 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.”

John Adams seconded it on the spot. But Congress, hoping for broader support, held off the vote until the next morning.

NOT IF, BUT WHEN

The vote didn’t come immediately. But it wasn’t hesitation. It was strategy.

South Carolina’s Edward Rutledge described it clearly in a letter to John Jay:

“They saw no Wisdom in a Declaration of Independence… giving our Enemy Notice of our Intentions before we had taken any Steps, to execute them.”

Jefferson backed that up. Those holding back the vote, he wrote, “were friends to the measures themselves… yet they were against adopting them at this time.”

So Congress pressed pause – but didn’t sit still.

On June 11, they formed a committee to prepare a Declaration in case the vote passed: Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston.

The next day, they formed two more. One to draft foreign treaties. Another to begin the Articles of Confederation.

They delayed the vote, not the outcome. The work of an independent union was already underway.

THE DAY IT HAPPENED

Congress took it up again on July 1. Nine colonies backed Lee. Pennsylvania and South Carolina still said no. Delaware was deadlocked. New York stayed on the sidelines.

They held off. But not for long.

On July 2, the deadlock broke.

Caesar Rodney rode overnight to cast Delaware’s deciding vote. Pennsylvania shifted. South Carolina flipped. One man, eighty miles, and the future of independence turned on his arrival.

By day’s end, twelve colonies voted for secession. None against. New York abstained – not from disagreement, but because their delegates still lacked new instructions authorizing a yes vote.

Jefferson later recalled that South Carolina flipped, a third delegate arrived from Delaware, and Pennsylvania’s lineup changed, “so that the whole 12 colonies, who were authorized to vote at all, gave their voices for it.”

That was it. The colonies were now free and independent states.

John Adams understood the weight of what had just happened. The very next day, he predicted how future generations would remember it:

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.”

And what he predicted next? It’s exactly what we’ve done for nearly 250 years.

“It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more”

He may have been two days off in the prediction. But he saw the moment for what it was – a moment that changed everything, forever.

THE VOTE THAT MADE IT REAL

The Lee Resolution wasn’t a message. It was a move. The colonies didn’t issue demands or stage a protest. They took action. They voted to secede.

No speeches changed the outcome. No pamphlet sealed the deal. What made the colonies independent was a recorded vote, taken in Congress, under the authority of the people.

They authorized a confederation. They called for foreign alliances. They didn’t wait for permission. They didn’t ask the king to let them go.

They just left.

That’s what made it real. July 2nd, 1776.

The day they broke away – and never looked back.

The post Totally Dissolved: The Forgotten Vote for Independence first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.