June 7 · This Day in America
On June 7, 1776, on the floor of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia rises and reads a single dangerous sentence: that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. John Adams seconds it. There it is — said out loud, on the record, the unbreakable word spoken. Independence is now not a grievance but a motion. Congress, frightened of its own boldness, postpones the vote and quietly appoints a committee to draft a justification, just in case the answer is yes. That committee hands the work to a young Virginian named Jefferson. Everything we celebrate on the Fourth of July begins on this day, with a man standing up and refusing to take it back.
Source: www.archives.gov
Also on this day · 1965
On June 7, 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court strikes down a state law banning contraception, ruling 7–2 that married couples have a constitutional right to privacy. Justice Douglas found it in the "penumbras" of the Bill of Rights — the shadows its guarantees cast. The word "privacy" appears nowhere in the Constitution, yet the Court held the document plainly meant to protect it. American law had found a room it always had but had never named.
Source: www.law.cornell.edu
“That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”Richard Henry Lee, resolution to Congress, 1776