Virginia Resolved

On June 7, 1776,

acting on the instructions of the 5th Virginia Convention, Northern Neck native Richard Henry Lee introduced in the 2nd Continental Congress a resolution “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States… and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” Later that summer, Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee became the only pair of brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence, which incorporated the Lee Resolution.