Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia
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THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY

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May 15, 1776

Virginia, Convention, General Correspondence, Minutes, and Journals, 1774—1776, Accession 30003, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Virginia, Convention, General Correspondence, Minutes, and Journals, 1774—1776, Accession 30003, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Virginia, Convention, General Correspondence, Minutes, and Journals, 1774—1776, Accession 30003, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Virginia, Convention, General Correspondence, Minutes, and Journals, 1774—1776, Accession 30003, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia's Fifth Revolutionary Convention Called for Independence

At the fifth and final Revolutionary Convention of Virginia, on May 15 members voted unanimously to instruct the Virginia delegates at the Second Continental Congress to introduce a resolution calling for independence. In Philadelphia on June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) moved that Congress declare the colonies free and independent. Furthermore, Lee proposed that Congress form foreign alliances and develop a plan of government. On July 2 Congress passed the first part of Lee's motion for separation from the Crown and two days later explained the action to the world in the Declaration of Independence. The plan for forming foreign alliances and developing a plan of government was later approved.