July 4rth Crash Course in History

While we’ve all taken some type of American History course at sometime in our lives, we maybe surprised to learn that one of our favorite national holidays might have untrue legends attached to it. For instance, many believe the separation of the U.S. from Britain occurred on July 4^th, 1776. In fact, the actual separation of the U.S. from Britain occurred on July 2, 1776. On this day, the Second Continental Congress (a convention with delegates from all the original 13 colonies) approved by vote, a resolution of independence from Britain (also known as The Lee Resolution).

 Soon after, the Declaration of Independence was signed. While many believe that this document was officially signed on July 4^th 1776, this too isn’t exactly true. According to the book, Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas by Carl Becker, most of the delegates didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence until August 2, 1776. Yet, despite these two facts, for centuries, Independence Day has been celebrated on July 4^th. Why?

The answer is very simple. Congress didn’t approve the document that would be the Declaration of Independence until July 4^th 1776. It wasn’t until 1870 that Congress decided to make Independence Day a federal holiday for federal employees.

There are other interesting facts about and in honor of Independence Day.

 Such as:

·      On its’ 50^th anniversary, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (signers of the Declaration of Independence) passed away in death.

·      In order to commemorate Independence Day, both Benjamin Franklin and John Adams held a dinner for Americans that were “in and about Paris, [France]” at the time.

·      There was an estimate of 2.5 million people in America on July 4, 1776. Last year, the population was 304 million people.

·      There are 31 places in the nation today with the name “Liberty” attached to it.

·      There are nine locations in the United States that have adopted the name “Freedom”; Freedom, California has the largest population of these nine locations with a population estimate of 6,000 residents.

·      This year, July 4^th falls on a Saturday. This means, that for federal employees who are observing the holiday, Friday, July 3^rd will be the day of observance.

·      Had July 4^th fallen on a Sunday, employees would have Monday off instead. The most recent July 4th that fell on a Sunday occurred in 1999.

          -Facts taken from the census bureau website and from James R. Heintze’s website, The Fourth of July Celebrations Database