July 2, 1776
The Second Continental Congress
Background
Acting under the instruction of the Virginia Convention in the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution proposing independence from England for the American colonies.
Because many members of the Continental Congress believed what Lee proposed to be premature or wanted instructions from their colonies before voting, approval was deferred until July 2. On that date, Congress adopted the declaration of independence (the first of three parts of the full resolution).
This document shows the affirmative votes of 12 colonies listed at the right. New York cast no vote until the newly elected New York Convention upheld the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776.
The Com. of the Whole Congress to whom was referred the resolution and [illegible] the Declaration respecting independence.
No. 5 } Report of the resolution for independency agreed to July 2, 1776
[to the right of the just above section, written sideways from the right side of the paper are the following, fin this order, followed by a black line:]
A N
NHS ________
Mas. ________
Ro Isl. ________
Connect. ________
NJersey ________
Pennsy. ________
Delaware ________
Virginia ________
N Caro ________
S Carol ________
Georgia ________
Maryland ________
[At the bottom right corner of page, written sideways from top to bottom is:]
90
81
96
96
——-
383
64[1]
