The Real Independence Day
Today, July 2nd, could quite easily have been proclaimed United States of America Independence Day. It’s not, of course, but helps explain why I’m such a stickler on calling it Independence Day as opposed to “the Fourth of July”.
When we were young, we were given to believe that a group of men gathered in Philadelphia and gathered around to sign a document on July 4th proclaiming our independence from England. After all, there are famous paintings to that effect.
The Continental Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2nd, 1776, when it voted to approve a resolution submitted by delegate Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, declaring “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.”
John Adams was one of the delegates, and the future president was certain that July 2nd would be remembered fondly. He wrote, “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” He was right, but just not about the date.
You see, after voting for independence on July 2nd, the Continental Congress then needed to draft a document explaining the move to the public. It had been proposed in draft form but it took two days for the Congress to agree on the edits…that’s how July 4th comes into the picture. It was sent to a printer to be announced to the world, and it was that printer who wrote, “In Congress, July 4, 1776” at the top…because that was the day the document itself was approved.
Approved, but not signed. Most signed it a month later, on August 2nd…some didn’t sign until the next calendar year.
One historian wrote two decades ago that the one year anniversary almost went unnoticed. She claims that literally, on July 3, it sort of just occurred to members of Congress that it had been about a year…and they figured since the document said July 4th, that should be the date to mark.
In the last letter he ever wrote, Thomas Jefferson spoke in 1826 of the importance of the day. “For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them,” he said.
He wrote that on July 2nd, the day of the vote…and apparently the day he recognized as significant. Two days later, July 4th, both Jefferson and Adams passed away.
