Facts About The 4th of July

Flag with 13 stars used from 1777 to 1795

The flag bore 13 stars until 1795 when two more stars and two more stripes were added for Vermont and Kentucky.  The 15 star flag was used for the next 23 years until 1818.  The 15 star flag inspired author, poet and lawyer Francis Scott Key to write the "Star Spangled Banner" on September 14, 1814.

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The Liberty Bell, located in Philadelphia, rings 13 times every July 4th to honor the 13 original states.

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In July 1776, there were approximately 2.5 million people living in the new nation.  In July 2021, the estimated population in 50 United States is about 332 million people.

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There were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Benjamin Franklin was the oldest at age 70 and South Carolina Governor Edward Rutledge was the youngest at age 26.

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The Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Britain on July 2, not July 4.  It took two days for the official document to be prepared for signatures which is why the July 4th date appears at the top of the document.

However, President John Adams believed that July 2nd should have been celebrated as Independence Day instead of July 4th because the document was actually adopted by Congress on July 2, 1776.  Adams wrote in his personal papers: "July 2 will be celebrated by future generations as the great anniversary festival. The day should include pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.

John Adams took his convictions even further. As a personal protest against the wrong date becoming famous, he refused all invitations to July 4th events.

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It took over 100 years for Congress to make the 4th of July an official holiday. IOn June 28, 1870 Congress passed House Resolution 2224 to establish the 4th of July as an unpaid federal holiday. 

However there was no proposal to create an official holiday, just one that would acknowledge the date as a legal holiday in every state in the Union.  

It wasn't until 1938 that Congress established the 4th of July as a paid federal holiday, just like Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Washington's birthday, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

It took another law to be passed in 1959 to identify which day of the week that federal workers would get off from work. Because it was a movable date, it all depended on where July 4th landed on the calendar. 

If the 4th of July landed on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday, then federal workers were given Friday off from work. 

If the 4th of July landed on a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, they were given Monday off from work.

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John Hancock was the only person who actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.  The other 55 did not sign until later. It took six months for all to sign.  Thomas Mckean of Delaware was the last person to sign and for that reason there are a few copies in existence that do not have his name signed on them.

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 It was extraordinary that three Presidents died on Independence Day. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died just hours apart on July 4, 1826 on the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  

President James Monroe five years later on July 4, 1831.

President Calvin Coolidge was the only President born on the 4th of July in 1872.

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