June 1776: The Month Courage Became Independence

Two hundred and fifty years ago this month, Richard Henry Lee stood up and formally moved for American independence — and citizen-soldiers on Sullivan's Island proved they could back it up with force. In this installment of the Road to 250 series, Jeff covers the pivotal political and military events of June 1776 and connects them to what the Second Amendment means for every gun owner today. This is the month where courage met conviction — and you need to know why it still matters.

subscribe to my newsletter

Follow this link and get $25 in ammo.

Fountain Podcast App
Follow me on Fountain


Follow twitter @JeffDowdle
Follow me on Truth Social - @JeffDowdle

Convention of States Project
Presearch search engine sign up.
Brave Browser

Find our Representative
email me at jeff@livetoshoot.com

Transcript

0:14

Well, welcome to the Live to Shoot podcast. My name is Jeff Dowdle, and I've been a licensed firearms dealer for the last 19 years. In this podcast, talk about all things related to second amendment, anything else going on in the world, sports story, or anything else I find interesting. So welcome, welcome, welcome. Well, we have continued to march towards America's 250th birthday at July 4th, 2026. And every month, we've been going back exactly 250 years and looking at what was happening during the American Revolution. And folks, we have arrived. We are now in June of 1776. This is the month where it all comes together. Everything we've been building towards, the debates, the battles, the pamphlets, the paint, it all kinda converges right here. So let me, uh, set the scene for you. Last month, we talked about May 1776 and how the Continental Congress passed a resolution urging the colonies to form their own governments. Huge step. It was basically Congress telling the colonies, "Hey, start acting like independent states," but there was still no formal declaration, no official break. June is when the dominoes really started to fall. So on June 7th, 1776, a delegate from Virginia named Richard Henry Lee stood up in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and introduced what he nows call- what's now called the Lee Resolution, and here's what it said. It said that, "These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. That they are resolved 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." Now think about that. Those words were spoken 250 years ago this month. That is the moment. That is the formal motion for independence. Not July 4th, June 7th. July 4th is when they approved in- the final document, but the motion, the decision to actually do this thing started right here in June. So what happened next? Well- Not everybody was ready. Some delegations didn't have authorization from their colonial assemblies to vote for independence, so Congress did what Congress does, they debated it, and they decided to postpone the vote on the Lee Resolution until July 1st to give everybody time to get their instructions. But here's where it gets interesting. They didn't just sit around and wait. On June 11th, Congress appointed a committee to draft a formal declaration just in case the vote went the way everyone expected. The committee included, uh, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Rob- Robert Livingston, and a young Virginian named Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson got the job of actually writing the thing, and over the next couple weeks, he sat down and put pen to paper on what would become the Declaration of Independence. So while Jefferson is writing, let's talk about what's happening on the ground militarily because of June of 1776 was not quiet. Down Charleston, South Carolina, the British launched a major naval assault on Sullivan's Island on June 28th. They sent a fleet of warships to bombard the Patriot Fort, later named Fort Moultrie, expected to knock it out and take Charleston. Now, the fort was built out of palmetto logs, and the British thought it would be easy, but those palmetto logs were soft and spongy, and the cannonballs just sank right into them instead of shattering the walls. The defenders, led by Colonel William Moultrie, held their ground and hammered the British fleet with return fire. The British were forced to withdraw. It was a decisive American victory, and it kept the South out of British hands And here's what I want you to think about. The men defending that fort were not career soldiers. They were citizens, farmers, tradesmen, ordinary people who picked up arms to defend their homes and their liberty. That is the Second Amendment in action before the Second Amendment even existed. Armed citizens standing on a wall and saying, "No, you will not take this from us." Now, up north, things were tougher. The American invasion of Canada had completely fallen apart. After they failed to assault on Quebec back in December and the death of General Montgomery, the remaining American forces had been struggling through disease, low supplies, constant pressure from British reinforcements. By June, the Continental Army was in full retreat out of Canada. Smallpox was devitate, sevid, was devastating the troops. It was ugly. The dream of bringing Canada into the revolution was dead. So you've got this contrast in June of 1776, victory in the South, defeat in the North, political courage in Philadelphia, and uncertainty everywhere. That's what revelation, revolution actually looks like. It's not clean. It's not a sure thing. It's messy and terrifying, and the outcome is never a guarantee. And that brings me to what this means for us today. The men who stood up in June of 1776, whether it was Richard Henry Lee making the motion, or Thomas Jeffer- Jefferson drafting the immoral words, or Colonel Moultrie and his men absorbing cannon fire on Sullivan's Island, none of them knew how this was going to end. They didn't have the luxury of hindsight. They made a choice. They chose liberty over safety. They chose self-governance over submission, and they backed that choice with, with arms. This isn't just about history. It's about the principle that free people have the right and the responsibility to defend their freedom. That's what the Second Amendment codifies, not a privilege granted by government, not a natural, but a natural right recognized and protected. The founders didn't dream this up in a vacuum. They lived it. June of 1776 is proof of that. So here's the bottom line. Next month, we hit July, and we'll cover the actual vote and the signing of the declaration. But don't skip past June. June is when the courage happened. June is where men decided they would rather risk everything than live on their knees. And that spirit, that willingness to stand up, to bear arms, to defend what's yours, that's the beating heart of the Second Amendment. Freedom has to be actively defended. It was true 250 years ago, and it's true right now. So if you're finding this interesting, subscribe, share it with others, give it five stars, do all those things. We're closing on the twen- 250th, and those stories are gonna matter more, and I appreciate it. So I'm Jeff Dowdle. This is Live to Shoot: Defending the Second Amendment. Stay informed, stay armed, and never forget where this all started. Talk to you next week.