The Lee Resolution, sometimes called, Resolution of Independence was steered mainly by Henry Lee. Its main aim was to lobby for the independence of the American states from the British colony. It was on June 7, 1776 when Richard Henry Lee of the State of Virginia tabled a bill in Congress to declare independence to the American colonies. The resolution contained three parts namely: a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances and the preparation and digestion of the form of the forthcoming confederation.
It is not until 9th July when Congress adopted the first plan (read declaration). Meanwhile, New York cast no vote until the newly elected New Yolk Convention. However, it was not until the 9th when the New York Convention upheld the declaration of independence. The declaration of independence was written majorly by Thomas Jefferson. The other members were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Rodger Sherman and Robert Livingstone.
The plan for guaranteeing freedom to form allegiance was not approved until September in 1776. In addition, the plan to form treaties was not approved until 1777. On June 11 1777, a committee of five was appointed to prepare a document to explain the reasons for independence. The news for the adoption of the Lee resolution was published in the Pennsylvania Evening Post as well as in the Pennsylvania Gazette in the next day.
The Resolution was majorly steered by the Revolutionary Wars which began in 1775. In fact, the British in North America openly advocated for independence of the American states from the Great Britain. This was due to the effects of the Revolutionary war; the Britons were attacked and their property looted during the war.
Henry Lee was not alone in spearheading the Resolution for Independence. In fact, in the second Continental Congress, the independence movement was generally led by an informal alliance of delegates who were later referred to as ‘Adam-Lee-Junto’. This is an acronym got from the names of the pioneers of the independence struggle.
The declaration also contained three parts; the first one being a general statement of the natural rights theory and the functions of the government. The second part contained a list of grievances levelled against the British king and subsequently the third section was the declaration of independence from England.
Slightly more than 20 years later, the second, third, fourth, and sixth amendments to the constitution were established to prevent tyranny as it was listed as a grievance against the British king. However, the Continental Congress made some alterations to Jefferson’s draft, including removing the clause that condemned slavery.
On July 4, the declaration of independence was signed by John Hancock, the then president of the Continental Congress. The rest of the congressmen signed the declaration two months later. The rights advocated for during the Lee Resolution include; absolution from allegiance to the British Crown, all connections between the states of America and the state of Great Britain to be dissolved, the independent states have power to levy war, contract peace, establish commerce, among others. Fifty six congressmen signed against the document.
In Jefferson’s draft, he argued that people have the right to change a government if that government becomes oppressive. He further explained that the government fails when it no longer has the consent of the governed. Indeed, parliament did not have the consent of American colonists. Therefore, it was not legitimate.
Jefferson outlined thirty grievances against the king of England. Some of them include: the King’s refusal to assent to laws, some of which were necessary for the public good, he had dissolved the House of Representatives repeatedly for their firm opposition to his invasion of the citizen’s rights and imposition of taxes on the American citizenry without their consent, among others.
Works Cited
Bill of Rights Institute. The Declaration of Independence (1776). 23 January 2014. 4 february 2014. <http://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/declaration-of-independence/>.
Billias, George Athan. American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World, 1776-1989: A Global Perspective. New York: NYU Press, 2009.
Findling, E John and W Frank Thackeray. What Happened?: An Encyclopedia of Events that Changed America Forever, Volume 1. New York: Congress Publisher, 2011.
Grigsby, Hugh Blair. The Virginia Convention of 1776: A Discourse Delivered Before the Virginia Williamsburg: Williamsburg Press, 1855.
Hentz, Joseph M. The Real Thomas Paine. New York: iUniverse, 2010.
Klos, L Stanley and Yavneh Stanley Klos. America's Four Republics: The More Or Less United States. Washington: Washington Press, 2012.
OUP USA. Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives. New York: New York Press, 2003.
Young, Earl G. American History for Everyone. New Yolk: Xlibris Corporation, 2008.
