June 7, 1776 – Richard Henry Lee Introduced Resolution for Declaration of Independence

June 7, 1776 – Richard Henry Lee Introduced Resolution for Declaration of Independence
This week the author discusses the events of the week of June 7 – 13. This was the week that Richard Henry Lee introduced the Resolution of Declaration of Independence to Congress.
From the Book
The American Revolution – 1776

Greetings, today I will talk about Richard Henry Lee introducing the resolution for the Declaration of Independence and other events of the week of June 7 – 13.
Before starting, I want to announce that my book The American Revolution – 1776 is now available in softbound, ebook and audio book formats on Amazon and many other online book sellers. Listeners will find a link to the book in the description of this podcast.

Richard Henry Lee introduced the resolution on June 7, 1776, that helped lead to the Declaration of Independence almost a month later.

Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 – June 19, 1794)
The son of Colonel Thomas and Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee, Richard was native to Westmoreland County, Virginia. The Lee family had served as military officers and diplomats, which provided the growing boy with a template for his later political life. During his early years he received his education from a tutor at the family home in Stratford, Virginia in Stratford Hall. Lee voyaged to England in 1748 to attend the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, in Yorkshire, England. After finishing school, he toured Europe and then returned to Virginia in 1753 to help his brothers settle his parents’, who had died in 1750, estate.
Political Career
He received appointment as a justice of the peace in 1757 and gained election to the Virginia House of Burgesses the next year. At his legislature he met Patrick Henry. During the turbulent years after the Stamp Act in 1765, he became an early supporter of independence for the colonies. He was one of the originators of the Committees of Correspondence in Virginia and receives credit for writing the Westmorland Resolution in 1766. He attended the First Continental Congress and later the Second Continental Congress. On June 7, 1776, he introduced the Resolution that helped lead to the Declaration of Independence less than a month later.
Text of the Resolution:
“That these United Colonies are, and of right out 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 measures should be immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together.”

On June 11, 1776, the delegates of the Second Constitutional Congress appointed a committee of five to draft a Declaration of Independence. The committee Included:
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
Benjamin Franklin
Roger Sherman
Robert R. Livingston

Summaries of other events of the week follow. Read the book for a complete account of these events.

In Canada the Americans prepared to do battle at Three Rivers as Brigadier General William Thompson devised a battle plan on June 7. The battle took place the next day with disastrous results for the Americans.

British General Henry Clinton prepared to attack Fort Sullivan near Charleston in South Carolina. Prior to attacking, he attempted to parley with the fort’s defenders, however a soldier mistakenly fired on the boat as it approached while flying a white flag on June 7. The next day he issued a proclamation imploring the Americans to lay down their arms before he invaded. The defenders of the fort ignored the proclamation.

General Charles Lee arrived at Charleston on June 8, 1776, and assumed command of the South Carolina troops.

British General Henry Clinton landed 500 troops on June 9. The few Americans on the island offered no resistance. Clinton would eventually land 2200 troops on the island and establish his headquarters there.

On June 11 Local patriots in New York, hearing of the Tory plots against their fledgling rebellion, took to roaming the streets, searching for people they suspected of cooperating with the British governor Tryon.

The Virginia Assembly ratified the Declaration of Rights on June 12, 1776.

The Congress had been appointing temporary committees to deal with the continuing operations of the Continental Army. The system, or lack of one, had presented numerous problems. In hopes of dealing with the problem the Congress created a permanent Board of War on June 12, 1776.

On June 13 The officers of the Canada expedition held a council of War at General Sullivan’s headquarters near Sorel. The army in Canada was in pitiful straits at this point. Morale was low, smallpox had decimated the troops, and they were short on supplies.

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