I knew it! The official date of American Independence was never set into stone at first, even as late as the height of the Federalist Party’s existence. According to John Adams, not all Americans in those days actually thought that Independence Day was July 4, 1776. Instead, it was believed to have been July 2, 1776, and the Federalists would have preferred July 2 as opposed to July 4. My suspicion is that the Jeffersonians later chose July 4 as their official date of Independence Day since that was the day proclaimed by Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.

There is a recent article on Constitution Center about that, which piqued my interest to read more about it:

There’s no doubt the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. But which date has the legitimate claim on Independence Day: July 2 or July 4?

If John Adams were alive today, he would tell you July 2. Other Founders would say July 4, the day that is currently recognized as a federal holiday by our national government. And still, other Founders would say, “what Independence Day?” since the holiday wasn’t widely celebrated until many of the Founders had passed away.

Here is the evidence, so you can decide which Independence Day is the real Independence Day!

Officially, the Continental Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2, 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 thought July 2 would be marked as a national holiday for generations to come:

“[Independence Day] 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 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,” Adams wrote.

The late historian Pauline Maier said in her 1997 book, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, that no member of Congress recalled in early July 1777 that it had been almost a year since they declared their freedom from the British. They finally remembered the event on July 3, 1777, and July 4 became the day that seemed to make sense for celebrating independence.

Maier also said that arguments over the how to celebrate the Declaration arose between the Federalists (of John Adams) and the Republicans (of Thomas Jefferson) and that the Declaration and its anniversary day weren’t widely celebrated until the Federalists faded away from the political scene after 1812.

Categories: Politics

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