Fun Fact – Celebrating Independence Day on July 2?

Still ebullient from the previous day's meeting of the Continental Congress – the Congress that had just approved a formal resolution to break from the rule of King George and establish an independent government – John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail:

"The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epoch 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."

Wait! Didn't he mean to write the fourth day of July instead of the second?

Well, it turns out the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is not as simple as it seems. Here is the actual timeline:

June 7, 1776 Virginia's Continental Congress delegate Richard Henry Lee introduces a motion for the colonies to declare independence from British rule.

June 11, 1776 The motion is tabled and a Committee of Five is appointed to draft a declaration.

June 28, 1776 The Committee's draft of the declaration is read in Congress.

July 1-4, 1776 The Continental Congress debates and revises the declaration.

July 2, 1776 Congress takes up Lee's motion and unanimously votes to declare independence. The revision of the formal Declaration of Independence still in process.

July 4, 1776 Congress votes to adopt the revised Declaration of Independence. That night, printer John Dunlap prints approximately 200 copies of the document and posts them around Philadelphia. The top of the broadside reads: "In Congress, July 4, 1776. A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled." It is signed "by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President."

July 19, 1776 Congress orders the Declaration of Independence engrossed (i.e., officially inscribed).

Aug. 2, 1776 Delegates from the thirteen United States sign the Declaration of Independence.

Though the nation adopted July 4 as the official day to celebrate their independence, John Adams never reconciled himself to that date. Reportedly, he turned down invitations to appear at July Fourth celebrations because he believed the proper day to celebrate was July 2!