Happy independence day!

No, you don't need to adjust your calendar -- today is NOT July 4. However, June 7 provides us another opportunity to reflect on our country's historical fight for freedom and independence from Great Britain.

It was on this day in 1776 that Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, proposed a resolution declaring that “these United States 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.”

Lee's motion was seconded by fellow delegate and outspoken proponent of independence John Adams.  With that, both men put their lives on the line, committing treason against the crown so that we might be free.

The text of Lee's resolution formally announcing this action, the United States Declaration of Independence, was then approved by the colonies on July 4.