JOHN ADAMS WAS WRONG ABOUT JULY 2ND, OR WAS HE RIGHT?
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) On July 3rd 1776, John Adams wrote letters to his wife Abigail telling her that July 2nd would be celebrated with "parades, speeches, songs and...illuminations" because independence from Great Britain had been declared by the Continental Congress here in Philadelphia the previous day, July 2nd 1776.
Joseph Ellis questions whether or not John Adams was wrong. He writes that most delegates did not even sign the Declaration until August 1776. Why, then, do we celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth?
It seems the Declaration of Independence was sent to the printer on July 4 and so it was that date which was put on the document. For fifty years the date of the celebration of independence was wrong, but when both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, July 4th became the "sanctioned anniversary for American Independence."
SOURCE
"Op Ed: We celebrate Independence Day on the wrong date for the right reasons," by Joseph J. Ellis, July 2, 2017, Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) On July 3rd 1776, John Adams wrote letters to his wife Abigail telling her that July 2nd would be celebrated with "parades, speeches, songs and...illuminations" because independence from Great Britain had been declared by the Continental Congress here in Philadelphia the previous day, July 2nd 1776.
Joseph Ellis questions whether or not John Adams was wrong. He writes that most delegates did not even sign the Declaration until August 1776. Why, then, do we celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth?
It seems the Declaration of Independence was sent to the printer on July 4 and so it was that date which was put on the document. For fifty years the date of the celebration of independence was wrong, but when both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, July 4th became the "sanctioned anniversary for American Independence."
SOURCE
"Op Ed: We celebrate Independence Day on the wrong date for the right reasons," by Joseph J. Ellis, July 2, 2017, Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/
Writing the Declaration of Independence
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams &
Thomas Jefferson
by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1900)
Virginia Historical Society
Library of Congress Image
