Boalsburg's Special Link with the Declaration of Independence

A portrait and an original signature of Signer of the Declaration of Independence Richard Henry Lee are on display in the Boal Mansion Museum. Lee didn’t just sign the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. He actually offered the resolution in the Continental Congress in June 1776 that eventually became the Declaration of Independence.

The Lee Resolution, or sometimes Lee's Resolution, was an act of the Second Continental Congress declaring the Thirteen Colonies to be independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was proposed by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia on June 7, 1776. Although it was not simultaneously supported by all of the colonies, it was passed by the Congress on July 2 and formed the core of the United States Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4. It read:

Resolved, That these United Colonies 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.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

Maryland Governor Blair Lee III, a descendant of Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, married Mathilde (Mimi) Boal, a seventh generation resident of the 1789 Boal Mansion.

For more information, contact the Boal Mansion Museum at (814) 466-6210 or email office@boalmuseum.com.