On This Day In 1776, Congress Held The Actual Vote For Independence

This entry is part 7 of 32 in the series ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

It was Tuesday, July 2, 1776.

This was the vote.

Not the final wording of the Declaration. Not the famous signatures. Not the date Americans would later celebrate with fireworks.

On July 2, Congress approved independence.

The vote adopted the first part of Richard Henry Lee’s resolution, declaring that the colonies were free and independent states. The final text of the Declaration would not be approved until July 4.

John Adams, 40, understood the difference. The next day, he would tell Abigail Adams, 31, that July 2 would become “the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.”

He was off by two days on the holiday.

He was right about the moment.

The DX Brief

Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776.
The vote approved the first part of Richard Henry Lee’s resolution, declaring the colonies free and independent states.
Twelve colonies supported independence, while New York abstained because its delegates still lacked instructions.
Delaware, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina moved into the pro-independence column after the July 1 vote.
The final text of the Declaration would not be approved until July 4.

Congress takes the vote

Congress resumed the question of independence on July 2.

The Journals of the Continental Congress recorded the result in one of the most important resolutions in American history.

“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.”

That was the break.

The National Archives says Lee introduced the resolution on June 7 and that Congress adopted the first part, the declaration of independence, on July 2. The same page notes that New York cast no vote until its convention later upheld the Declaration on July 9.

So July 2 was not a warmup.

It was the political decision to leave Britain.

The holdouts moved

The day before, independence had a majority but not unity.

That changed on July 2.

The National Constitution Center says Delaware, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina voted in favor of the Lee Resolution on the second vote, while New York abstained.

South Carolina moved from opposition to support.

Pennsylvania also moved. John Dickinson, 43, and Robert Morris, 42, both opponents of immediate independence, abstained. That left Pennsylvania’s delegation with enough support to vote yes.

Delaware’s change came with one of the best stories of the vote.

Caesar Rodney, 47, had not been in Philadelphia on July 1. Delaware had split, with Thomas McKean supporting independence and George Read opposing it.

Rodney arrived in time to vote.

The American Battlefield Trust says Rodney rode about 80 miles through the night and arrived in time to cast Delaware’s deciding vote for independence.

That gave Congress what it did not have on July 1.

A stronger united front.

New York still held back

One colony still did not vote.

New York’s delegates lacked instructions from their provincial leaders.

The National Archives says the July 2 vote listed 12 colonies in favor and New York casting no vote. The New York Convention would later uphold independence on July 9.

That made the vote unanimous among the colonies that voted, but not unanimous among all 13 colonies.

Still, no colony voted no.

That mattered.

Congress did not want the break with Britain to look like a narrow factional move. It wanted to show that the colonies were acting together.

On July 2, it came close enough to make the decision.

Adams saw the anniversary

Adams knew what had happened.

Writing to Abigail the next day, Adams said the delay had actually helped. He wrote that people across the colonies had been given time to consider independence through newspapers, pamphlets, assemblies, committees, meetings, and private conversations.

Then he wrote the line that would become famous.

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America,” Adams wrote in his July 3 letter to Abigail.

Adams expected July 2 to become the great anniversary.

He thought it would be marked by “Pomp and Parade,” “Games,” “Guns,” “Bells,” “Bonfires,” and “Illuminations.”

That part happened.

It just attached itself to July 4.

Congress turns to the words

After approving independence, Congress still had work to do.

The Declaration itself was not finished.

The Journals of the Continental Congress show that Congress went back into a committee of the whole to keep considering the Declaration.

The committee did not finish that day.

Congress resolved to meet again the next day to “further consider the declaration on independence.”

That is why July 2 and July 4 both matter.

July 2 was the decision.

July 4 was the approved text.

Washington prepares for the fight

While Congress voted in Philadelphia, George Washington, 44, prepared his army in New York.

British power was already gathering nearby. Mount Vernon notes that the day Washington issued his July 2 general orders, British forces disembarked on Staten Island with the largest fleet ever seen in North America.

Washington’s July 2 general orders captured the stakes.

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves,” Washington wrote.

He warned that the enemy left only two choices: “a brave resistance, or the most abject submission.”

Then he gave the line his army needed.

“We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die,” Washington wrote.

The timing was clear.

Congress had voted for independence.

Washington was preparing men to defend it.

Why it mattered

July 2, 1776, was the day Congress made the break.

The colonies did not merely debate independence. They voted for it.

South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Delaware moved into the yes column. New York abstained, but no colony voted against the resolution. Congress then turned back to the Declaration’s language, which would take two more days to finish.

That is why July 2 matters.

The legal and political decision came first.

The public explanation came next.

Americans celebrate July 4 because that is the date on the Declaration and the day Congress approved the final text.

But on July 2, Congress decided the colonies would become free and independent states.

The country had crossed the line.

Tomorrow on Road to Independence

July 3, 1776: Congress kept editing the Declaration while John Adams predicted Americans would one day celebrate July 2 with “Pomp and Parade,” “Bonfires,” and “Illuminations.”

Read yesterday’s installment: Independence Had A Majority But Not Unity.