on July 4, 1776
The night sky above Boston Harbor explodes with color, red, white, and blue fireworks
reflecting off the dark water where, nearly 250 years ago, colonists dumped tea to protest
British taxation. Families gather on blankets along the Charles River Esplanade as the Boston
Pops plays the “1812 Overture” (ironically, a piece composed by a Russian about Napoleon’s
retreat from Moscow). Across America, similar scenes unfold, parades wind through small-town
streets, backyard barbecues sizzle, and fireworks illuminate city skylines from coast to coast.
July 4th is America’s birthday party, the day when the United States declared its independence
from Great Britain and struck out on its own as a free nation. Or so the story goes.
But like so many historical “facts” we’ve explored in this book, the traditional narrative about
July 4, 1776, is largely mythical. The day Americans celebrate as their Independence Day
wasn’t when independence was declared, wasn’t when the Declaration was signed, and certainly
wasn’t when independence was actually achieved.
This distortion isn’t just a minor calendar error, it represents a fundamental misunderstanding of
how the American Revolution unfolded and how nations are born. The real story of American
independence is far more complicated, protracted, and interesting than the neat, tidy narrative
centered on a single summer day in Philadelphia.
The Day That Wasn’t: What Really Happened on July 4,
1776?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
These words from the Declaration of Independence are so deeply embedded in American
consciousness that schoolchildren recite them from memory. Most Americans can picture the
scene: the Founding Fathers gathering in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on July 4, 1776,
signing the Declaration with flourish, and America instantly becoming free from British rule.
During my visit to Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, I watched as tourists
lined up to take photos with the Liberty Bell and view the room where the Declaration was
debated. When I asked visitors what they thought happened on July 4, 1776, nearly everyone
gave the same answer: “That’s when America became independent and the Founding Fathers
signed the Declaration.”
This version of events is almost entirely incorrect.
Let’s separate fact from fiction:
The Real Timeline of American Independence
The story begins not on July 4 but weeks earlier. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of
Virginia introduced a resolution to the Second Continental Congress stating: “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.”
This was the actual proposition for independence, a formal break with Great Britain. The
Continental Congress debated Lee’s resolution but postponed the final vote, appointing a
committee to draft a document explaining the reasons for independence. This committee,
consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert
Livingston, assigned Jefferson the task of writing the first draft.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress returned to Lee’s resolution and officially voted to
declare independence from Great Britain. This was the day when the legal separation from
Britain actually occurred, the moment when the colonies formally severed political ties with the
mother country.
John Adams was so certain that July 2 would be remembered as America’s independence day
that he wrote to his wife Abigail the next day:
“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 solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns,
Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time
forward forever more.”
Adams got the celebration right but the date wrong. So what happened on July 4?
After voting for independence on July 2, Congress turned to reviewing and revising Jefferson’s
draft declaration. They made numerous changes over the next two days, finally approving the
edited text on July 4. This was not the day independence was declared (that had already
happened), but rather the day when Congress approved the public announcement explaining
why they had declared independence.
As historian Pauline Maier explained in her definitive work American Scripture: Making the
Declaration of Independence: “Congress did not actually declare independence on July 4; it did
that, as John Adams realized, on July 2… On July 4, Congress approved only the final wording
of the Declaration, which announced, not established, American independence.”
Even more surprising to many Americans is the fact that the Declaration wasn’t signed on July 4
either. When Congress approved the text, only John Hancock (as president of Congress) and
Charles Thomson (as secretary) signed the document to authenticate it. The document was then
sent to John Dunlap’s print shop, where approximately 200 copies, now known as “Dunlap
broadsides”, were printed overnight and distributed throughout the colonies.
The famous signing ceremony with all the delegates didn’t occur until August 2, 1776, when an
engrossed (formally handwritten) copy was ready. Some delegates weren’t present that day and
signed later. A few delegates who were present on July 2 and 4 never signed at all, while some
signers (like Thomas McKean of Delaware) may not have added their names until 1777.The iconic painting by John Trumbull that hangs in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, depicting the
presentation of the draft Declaration to Congress, is often mistakenly thought to portray the
signing. Even Trumbull didn’t claim it showed the signing, the painting actually represents the
five-man drafting committee presenting their work to Congress on June 28.
“The traditional Fourth of July narrative collapses under historical scrutiny, ” explains Dr. Mary
Thompson, a historian at Mount Vernon whom I interviewed for this book. “The Declaration
wasn’t signed on that day, independence wasn’t declared on that day, and certainly
independence wasn’t achieved on that day. It’s a date that became symbolic rather than
historically significant.”
The Long Road to True Independence
Perhaps the biggest misconception about July 4, 1776, is the idea that it marked the
achievement of American independence. In reality, declaring independence is far easier than
winning it. The Revolutionary War had barely begun in July 1776, and the outcome remained
highly uncertain.
When Congress approved the Declaration’s wording on July 4, the colonies faced a daunting
military situation. Just nine days later, two British warships sailed into New York Harbor,
beginning the buildup to the Battle of Long Island where George Washington’s army would
suffer a major defeat in August. By September, the British had captured New York City, which
they would hold for the duration of the war.
The war that followed was lengthy, brutal, and often seemed unwinnable for the American side:
French intervention, crucial to eventual American victory, didn’t begin in earnest until
1778
The turning point didn’t come until October 1781, more than five years after the Declaration,
when combined American and French forces compelled General Cornwallis to surrender at
Yorktown, Virginia. Even then, fighting continued, particularly at sea and in the frontier
regions.
Dr. David Armitage of Harvard University has noted that “declarations of independence are
typically beginnings, not endings.” The American case clearly illustrates this principle. The
document approved on July 4, 1776, did not create American independence; it announced an
aspiration that would take years of bloodshed to fulfill.
In December 1776, Washington was forced to retreat across New Jersey and the
Delaware River
Philadelphia, the American capital, fell to British forces in September 1777
The Continental Army endured the famished, freezing winter at Valley Forge in 1777-
1778
Fighting spread to the southern colonies, with major British victories at Charleston and
Camden True independence came not on July 4, 1776, but on September 3, 1783, when the Treaty of
Paris was signed. In this peace agreement, Great Britain formally recognized “the said United
States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent states.”
Only then, seven years after the Declaration, was American independence an internationally
recognized reality rather than a revolutionary aspiration.
How July 4 Became America’s Birthday
If July 4, 1776, wasn’t when independence was declared, wasn’t when the Declaration was
signed, and wasn’t when independence was achieved, how did it become America’s national
birthday?
The answer lies in a combination of printing decisions, publicity, political symbolism, and
remarkable coincidence.
The Power of the Printed Word
When the Declaration was approved on July 4, the printed Dunlap broadsides were dated “IN
CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.” As these broadsides spread throughout the colonies and were
reprinted in newspapers, the July 4 date became fixed in public consciousness. The document
announcing independence, rather than the actual vote for independence, became the focus of
attention.
The Continental Congress further cemented July 4 as the day of independence when it authorized
the engrossed copy of the Declaration, which begins with the words: “IN CONGRESS, JULY
4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” This phrasing
made it appear that the Declaration itself constituted the act of independence, rather than being
an explanation of a decision already made.
Early Celebrations and Political Divisions
The first anniversary celebrations of independence in 1777 actually occurred on both July 2 and
July 4, reflecting the initial uncertainty about which date was more significant. By the 1790s,
however, July 4 had emerged as the preferred date for commemoration, a development tied
closely to the partisan politics of the early republic.
During my research into early American newspapers, I discovered that the emerging political
parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, used Independence Day celebrations to
promote their competing visions of the nation. The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas
Jefferson (the Declaration’s primary author), particularly emphasized July 4 celebrations and
readings of the Declaration. This helped solidify July 4, rather than July 2, as Independence
Day in American culture.President Jefferson himself helped establish the tradition of White House Fourth of July
celebrations, opening the Executive Mansion to citizens and receiving guests in the oval
drawing room. These public ceremonies reinforced the symbolic importance of the date.
The Remarkable Coincidence of 1826
The identification of July 4 with American independence was cemented by an extraordinary
historical coincidence: on July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years after the Declaration’s approval, both
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died within hours of each other.
The nation was stunned by this seeming act of providence. That the principal author of the
Declaration and its most forceful advocate in debate would both die on the fiftieth anniversary of
its adoption struck Americans as divinely significant. As historian Joseph Ellis has noted, “If a
novelist had concocted this ending, it would have been dismissed as melodramatic.”
Daniel Webster, delivering a eulogy for both men, captured the public reaction: “They took
their flight together to the world of spirits… on that day which had once united them in so
glorious an achievement for their country, their departure from life… was itself a signal lapse to
immortality.”
This remarkable coincidence transformed July 4 from merely a patriotic holiday into something
approaching a sacred date in American civil religion. Five years later, the coincidence was
reinforced when President James Monroe also died on July 4, 1831, making him the third
president to die on Independence Day.
Why the Myth Matters
Some might argue that these historical details are mere technicalities, that it doesn’t really matter
which date Americans celebrate, as long as they honor the spirit of independence and the
principles of the Declaration. But the simplified July 4 narrative has consequences for how
Americans understand their history and national identity.
Oversimplifying Revolution and Nation-Building
By condensing the complex, years-long process of winning independence into a single day’s
events, the July 4 myth contributes to a broader tendency to oversimplify revolution and nationbuilding. It creates the impression that nations are born in singular, decisive moments rather
than through extended processes involving conflict, negotiation, and consolidation.
“The compression of the American Revolution into the events of a single day creates a distorted
understanding of how political change actually works, ” explains political scientist Dr. James
Morrison of Middlebury College. “Revolutionary change rarely happens in a day, it’s usually a
complex, messy process that unfolds over years or decades.”
This oversimplification can lead to unrealistic expectations about political transformation in
other contexts. When we look at more recent revolutions and independence movements around the world, we sometimes expect immediate transitions to stable democracies, forgetting that
America’s own path to functioning independence was long and uncertain.
Erasing the Role of Violence and Struggle
The neat July 4 narrative also obscures the violence and struggle required to achieve American
independence. By focusing on the philosophical declaration rather than the military contest that
followed, it creates a sanitized version of the Revolutionary period that emphasizes ideas over
bloodshed.
The American Revolution was a war, one that claimed at least 25, 000 American lives (a higher
percentage of the population than any U.S. conflict except the Civil War) and left many more
wounded, displaced, or impoverished. Indigenous peoples and African Americans were caught
in the crossfire, often suffering regardless of which side prevailed in particular battles.
By treating July 4, 1776, as the moment of independence, we risk forgetting the sacrifices
made during seven years of warfare that were required to transform the Declaration’s words into
reality.
The Gap Between Declaration and Reality
Perhaps most significantly, the July 4 myth obscures the gap between declaring principles and
implementing them. The Declaration proclaimed that “all men are created equal” and endowed
with “unalienable Rights”, yet many of its signers owned enslaved people, women were
excluded from political participation, and Indigenous peoples faced dispossession.
The premature celebration of independence on July 4, 1776, mirrors a tendency to celebrate
American ideals without fully reckoning with the nation’s historical and ongoing struggles to live
up to them. Just as true independence took years to achieve after it was declared, the fulfillment
of the Declaration’s promises of equality and liberty remains an unfinished project.
Historian Dr. Kimberly Coles notes: “When we separate the Declaration’s words from the messy
historical process that followed, we miss the crucial lesson that principles must be fought for,
not merely proclaimed. The gap between July 4, 1776, and September 3, 1783, reminds us that
words alone don’t create freedom, action does.”
The Real Independence Timeline
To understand American independence accurately, we need to see it as a process rather than an
event. Here’s what a more accurate timeline looks like:
July 4, 1776: Congress approves final wording of the Declaration
April 19, 1775: Fighting begins at Lexington and Concord
June 7, 1776: Richard Henry Lee introduces resolution for independence
June 11, 1776: Committee appointed to draft declaration
July 2, 1776: Continental Congress votes to declare independence
Key Insights from Chapter 5
- Independence was actually declared on July 2, 1776, when the Continental Congress
voted to approve Richard Henry Lee’s resolution breaking ties with Great Britain. - July 4, 1776, was the day Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of
Independence, a document explaining the decision already made two days earlier. - The Declaration wasn’t signed by most delegates until August 2, 1776, or even later, not
on July 4 as commonly believed. - The Revolutionary War continued for seven more years after the Declaration, with
American victory far from certain for much of that time. - True independence wasn’t achieved until the Treaty of Paris in 1783, when Great Britain
formally recognized the United States as a sovereign nation. - July 4 became America’s independence day through a combination of printing decisions,
early political celebrations, and the remarkable coincidence of both Jefferson and Adams
dying on July 4, 1826. - The simplified July 4 narrative obscures the complex, lengthy process required to
transform declared independence into achieved independence.
In our next chapter, we’ll explore another persistent American historical myth, the idea that the
Pilgrims were the first European settlers in what would become the United States, and that they
came primarily seeking religious freedom. As with the July 4 myth, the traditional Thanksgiving
story contains elements of truth wrapped in layers of simplification and distortion that reveal
how national narratives evolve to serve cultural and political purposes.