Holiday

Although the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, it had voted two days earlier to sever ties with England. In fact, John Adams claimed, in a letter to his wife, that July 2 would become the national holiday: "It will be celebrated by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other."