WhenJohn Adamspenned a missive to future First Lady Abigail Adams on July 3 , 1776 , he guessed how future coevals of Americans wouldcelebrate Independence Daywith remarkable accuracy : " solemnise with pomp and parade , with display , game , sports , gun , bells , bonfires , and illumination , from one end of this continent to the other , from this meter forrader forever more . "
The only job ? Adams predicted the improper date . Hewroteto Abigail that " the 2nd solar day of July , 1776 , will be the most memorable date of reference in the history of America . "
The future President of the United States ’s plans for big Second of July bash sink into obscurity , but Adams might have been onto something — when Americans party like it ’s 1776 on theFourth , we ’re actually celebrating independence two Day late . Or perchance even a month too early , as the first theme song on theDeclaration of Independencedidn’t occur until August 2 . ( Thomas McKean , a delegate who at one point assist as the President of the Continental Congress , is imagine to be the last , signingthe papers as late as 1781 . )
Adams wrote his letter on July 3 , 1776 , the 24-hour interval after the Continental Congressvotedto declare independency from Great Britain . But the Continental Congress labored over revisions to Thomas Jefferson ’s first draft of the Declaration until the document was edit , approved , and sign by the Continental Congress on the Fourth . On the Second , only the first paragraph was quick for print .
Congress issued theinitial printingof the Declaration on the dark of July 4 , 1776 , printed on about 200 broadside . John Dunlap , an Irish immigrant , spent much of that nighttime set the type , correcting it , and print the sheets . " We were all in haste , " Adams said about the printing process — punctuation mark varied from handbill to broadside , and some copies were folded before the ink dried by rights .
The flier , date July 4 , 1776 , were distribute to the presently - to - be Department of State over the course of the two following day , wide publicizing the Fourth as the day the United States claim independence . George Washington was one of the first to celebrate the Fourth in 1778 , ordering an artillery salutation from his soldiers and issuing his troops a double ration of rummy ( though probably not in that club ) .
It was n’t until 1870 that Congress declared the Fourth of July an amateur holiday for Union employees . As Congress often does , they exchange their mind in 1938 , switching the Fourth to a pay federal holiday . As forAdams , he would n’t live to see the Fourth as an official vacation : He died on July 4 , 1826 , two day after he imagine ( and hop ) Americans would surround in independence celebrations .
A version of this chronicle ran in 2013 ; it has been updated for 2021 .
