On July Fourth we celebrate our independence from England with the adoption of our Declaration of Independence, engraved in our nation’s history July 4, 1776. But here are a few facts about this important document you may not know.
The actual date we declared our independence from England was July 2, 1776. On that day the Continental Congress held a secret vote to approve independence. The document known as the Declaration of Independence was adopted two days later on July Fourth.
The first public display of the document was July 8 and the document was not finished being signed until early August 1776. Several signers said they did sign the document on July Fourth, but John Adams actually believed that the Independence Day that should forever be celebrated July 2.
The holiday became official when congress made it a national holiday in 1870. The legal basis of the declaration was a first in modern government. The idea of “natural law” in the declaration is defined by the following passage.
