This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 2, 2025.
Millions of Americans will celebrate July 4 with family gatherings, barbeques, parades and fireworks. You might have plans, too. But did you know our country’s vote for independence occurred on July 2, 1776?
It helps to understand the dramatic months leading up to that moment. Tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain had simmered for years, erupting in the defiant Boston Tea Party of 1773 and armed clashes at Lexington and Concord in early 1775. In response, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, forming the Continental Army, with George Washington as commander.
When efforts to reconcile with King George III failed, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee proposed independence. Lee’s resolution, offered on June 7, 1776, set the stage for a historic vote.
Over the next several weeks, delegates considered the resolution while consulting their respective colonies. Meanwhile, a committee tasked Thomas Jefferson with drafting a document that explained the reasons for independence.
On July 1, 1776, the delegates voted on independence, but the vote was not unanimous. They tried again the next day, July 2. Twelve colonies voted for independence, with New York abstaining. (New York’s delegates were awaiting instructions from state leaders and only later approved the resolution.) Thus, on July 2, 1776, Congress declared:
“Resolved, 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.”
With independence decided, Congress reviewed Jefferson’s declaration, editing it over the next two days. Jefferson, like all authors sensitive to the editor’s pen, described the changes as “mutilations.” The Declaration includes a paragraph that echoes the Lee Resolution.
Congress formally ratified the Declaration of Independence on July 4, which is also the date prominently printed on the document. The Declaration was first read in public on July 8 and later signed by most members of the Continental Congress on August 2.
At the time, Americans weren’t agreed on which day to celebrate. In an article for American Heritage, historian Pauline Maier noted that Pennsylvania newspapers at the time reported that independence was declared on July 2.
John Adams assumed the country would celebrate July 2, according to Scott Bomboy of the National Constitution Center. The day after the historic vote, Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail: “The Second Day of July 1776, 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.”
Maier suggested the choice of the Fourth could have been accidental. “In 1777 no member of Congress thought of marking the anniversary of independence at all until July 3, when it was too late to honor July 2. As a result, the celebration took place on the Fourth,” she wrote.
And so, the tradition began. On July 4, 1777, Philadelphia held its first formal Independence Day celebration, which included “demonstrations of joy and festivity,” according to the Pennsylvania Evening Post.
Massachusetts was the first state — in 1781 — to recognize July 4 as a holiday. And in 1870 Congress declared July 4 a federal holiday.
Nearly 250 years later, our Independence Day traditions endure. George Mason, a founder from Virginia, wrote that liberty is best preserved by “frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” Our annual celebration is an excellent time to do just that.
