Independence Day: July 2 or July 4?

Friday, June 30, 2017

It seems clear, obvious and something every adult and school-aged child in this country should know: America’s independence was formally adopted and declared to the world on the Fourth of July. We think of July 4, 1776, as the birthday of the United States of America, the date it became an independent nation.

But in fact, the Continental Congress actually voted to declare independence two days earlier, on July 2, 1776.

As John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail in a letter dated July 3, 1776, “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. — I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.”

So what took place on July 4?

Well, here are a few things which did not take place that day.

The Fourth of July was not when the American Revolution started — that began in April 1775. It was not the day Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence — that took place in June 1776.

July 4 was not the date on which the Declaration was delivered to Great Britain — that occurred in November 1776. Also, it was not the date the Declaration was signed — nearly all who signed did so on Aug. 2, 1776.

So then, what took place on July 2, and what happened on July 4, 1776?

On July 2, Congress voted to approve a resolution put forward by Richard Henry Lee which stated “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.”

Congress adopted the fuller and more poetic explanation — Thomas Jefferson’s, Declaration of Independence — two days later, on July 4.

The then president of the Congress, John Hancock, and its secretary, Charles Thompson, immediately signed the handwritten draft, which was then dispatched to nearby printers. No others signed that day.

On July 19, Congress decided to produce a handwritten copy to bear all the delegates’ signatures. The handwriting — which is still admired to this day — was that of Secretary Thompson’s assistant, Philadelphia merchant, Timothy Matlack.

Fifty-six congressional delegates in total signed the document, including some who were not present at the vote approving the declaration.

The delegates signed by state from North to South, beginning with Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire and ending with George Walton of Georgia John Dickinson of Pennsylvania and James Duane, Robert Livingston and John Jay of New York refused to sign. Carter Braxton of Virginia; Robert Morris of Pennsylvania; George Reed of Delaware; and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina opposed the document but signed in order to give the impression of a unanimous Congress.

Five delegates were absent: Generals George Washington, John Sullivan, James Clinton and Christopher Gadsden and Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.

The Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The drafting committee, which had already made a number of changes, submitted their draft on July 2 and after two days of work, agreed upon the various edits and changes.

So why do we say our nation’s birthday is on the Fourth of July?

Really it comes down to one simple thing: the document called the Declaration of Independence has, at the top, the statement, “In Congress, July 4, 1776.” That date was included on the Dunlap Broadsides, the original printed copies of the Declaration, which were circulated throughout the new nation.

And so people, down through the years, have assumed that the Declaration is the document and its date is when this nation formally declared its independence.

In contrast, we celebrate Constitution Day, each year on Sept. 17, the anniversary of the date that document was signed, not the anniversary of the date it was approved. If we observed this same approach for the Declaration of Independence we would then celebrate our independence on Aug. 2, the day nearly all of the 56 signatories penned their names.

How did the Fourth of July become a national holiday?

For the first 15 or 20 years after the Declaration was written, the occasion was not marked much on any date. In the early years of this nation, our independence was anything but secure and so much else was happening.

By the 1790s, a time of bitter partisan political conflicts, the Declaration had become controversial. One party, the Democratic-Republicans, admired Jefferson and his Declaration. The other party, the Federalists, thought the Declaration was too French (as in the French Revolution, which was becoming infamous for lopping off people’s heads) and was pointedly too anti-British, all of which went against their views.

In 1817, John Adams complained in a letter that America seemed uninterested in its past. However, that would soon change.

After the War of 1812, the Federalist Party came apart and the new parties of the 1820s and 1830s all considered themselves inheritors of Jefferson and his ideals. Printed copies of the Declaration began to circulate again, all with the date July 4, 1776, listed at the top.

And if there was not already enough mystique around the date of July 4, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on this nation’s 50th anniversary, July 4, 1826.

During this nation’s Civil War, Union soldiers and towns across the north used the day to promote patriotism and their cause. The more northerners celebrated the day, the less southerners observed it.

In 1870, almost a hundred years after the Declaration was written, Congress first declared July 4 to be a national holiday. This was part of a bill which officially recognized several holidays, including Christmas. Further legislation about national holidays, including July 4, was passed in 1939 and 1941.

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