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Is Independence Day July 2nd or July 4th?

Old John Adams thought it was July 2, and he would never accept invitations to speak on the 4th of July.

Is Independence Day July 2 or July 4? You're probably thinking the author is out of his mind. Of course, it's always July 4! The first full celebration was held on July 4, 1777. It was celebrated with a picnic, parades, musket fire, cannon fire, and fireworks.

Come on man! It's July the 4th. Well, it is for all of us. However, old John Adams thought it was July 2, and he would never accept invitations to speak on the 4th of July. Why would Adams think that Independence Day would be other than July 4?

On July 2, the Continental Congress voted for independence in a near-unanimous vote. On that day, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival,” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”

On July 4, the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, which had been written largely by Jefferson. Though the vote for actual independence took place on July 2, from then on, the 4th became the day that was celebrated as the birth of American independence.

I guess the Lord set John Adams straight when John and his friend Thomas Jefferson both passed away on July 4, 1806.

In 1870 the U.S. Congress made July 4 a federal holiday.

Happy Independence Day from Convention of States LA!

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Created:	2022-06-29 01:18 GMT
Updated:	2022-07-08 07:00 GMT
Published:	2022-06-29 06:00 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 11:59 GMT
Change Author:	Van Walter
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