12 British Colonies, on July 2, 1776, resolved, “That these United
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and inde¬pendent 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.” Two days later, the
Declaration of Independence was enacted which named the United States
of America while proclaiming the reasons for the colonial secession.
