Independence Day has a lot of fun traditions. Many of us celebrate the Fourth of July every year with fireworks, barbecues, concerts and parades. Growing up, you may have learned why it is we do those things. We celebrate Independence Day on July 4th because that's the day the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. However, that's not technically true.
Although the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, most people did not sign it until a month later. Read on for some more interesting and fun Fourth of July facts and history, and enjoy July 4, 2025, by showing them off at your barbecue.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of declaring independence from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was officially adopted two days later, marked by the ringing of the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. At the time, John Adams believed that July 2nd, not July 4th, would be the date remembered by history.
"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America," Adams wrote in a letter to his wife on July 3rd of that year. "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival."
Although our Independence Day celebrations fall on a different date, today's July 4th festivities would look familiar to Adams, who called for people to celebrate the day with "Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
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