This was actually the first formal declaration of independence in our country. It was a motion introduced to the continental Congress by Virginia representative Richard Lee on Friday, June 7, 1776:
“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.” – Richard Henry Lee
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