BORN IN JULY…OR AUGUST?
Why Americans (Kinda Sorta) Get Independence Day Wrong
“In Congress, July 4, 1776,” begins the Declaration of Independence, “the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” From this document came the birth of the United States, and from that came Independence Day. This day is celebrated annually in the United States on the fourth of July, but some believe that July 4, 1776, is not truly America’s day of independence. That honor, they claim, should fall to either July 2, 1776, or August 2, 1776.
On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress created a committee of five delegates—Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman—empowered to write a first draft of a declaration of independence. Jefferson took the lead, and the quintet delivered their draft on June 28. After a few days of debates and revisions, Congress officially voted to declare independence—on July 2. The next day, Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, discussing the Declaration and its significance. He explained: “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. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
While Adams appropriately described the revelry, he whiffed on the date. Though there would be an annual celebration thereafter to commemorate the birth of the nation, it wouldn’t be on the 2nd of July, it would be on the 4th. And while the date is significant in American history, it was not the day the Declaration of Independence was signed, as many believe; it was the day the Continental Congress ratified the text of the document. Ratifying the text simply meant that it was confirmed, not that it was made official law. The signatures needed to make it a true law had yet to come.
According to National Geographic, many of those who would sign the famous piece of parchment were not present on the 4th of July when it was ratified, so it was not fully signed until August 2. This belief is also buttressed by the journals of the Continental Congress itself, as stated by the National Archives, “on August 2, the journal of the Continental Congress records that ‘The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed.’ ” One of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration is that it was signed on July 4, 1776, by all the delegates in attendance.
While the July 4 date is probably the least relevant of the three, it would later lend itself to a fantastic coincidence. Of the five drafters of the Declaration, Adams and Jefferson went on to become Presidents of the United States. And Adams and Jefferson share something else in common, as well: Both died on July 4, 1826—fifty years to the day the Declaration was ratified.