82 Fun Facts About Fourth of July

In what year was the Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congress?

The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress, formally declaring the thirteen American colonies free from British rule.

Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson was appointed to a five-man committee and chosen to draft the Declaration. He wrote the initial draft in June 1776, which was then edited by the committee and Congress.

How many colonies joined together to declare independence in 1776?

Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia — with New York abstaining from the initial vote.

Which founding father predicted Independence Day would be marked with 'pomp and parade... bonfires, and illuminations'?

He wrote it to his wife Abigail the day before the Declaration was adopted. His prediction was off by two days: he expected the vote on the Lee Resolution, not the Declaration itself, to be the anniversary Americans kept.

Which two former U.S. presidents both died on July 4, 1826 — exactly 50 years after independence?

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Adams reportedly said, "Thomas Jefferson survives," not knowing Jefferson had died hours earlier.

What famous phrase begins the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence?

'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' opens the second paragraph; 'When in the Course of human events' opens the first, and 'We the People' belongs to the Constitution.

Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?

The Declaration was adopted and signed at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. The building is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

How many people signed the Declaration of Independence?

Most of them signed on August 2, 1776, not July 4 — the date the signing happened was debated for two centuries.

Which country observed July 4 as its Independence Day until 1962, then moved it to June 12?

The United States chose July 4, 1946 for Philippine independence on purpose, to match its own; the Philippines still marks the date as Republic Day.

Who was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence at age 70?

Benjamin Franklin was 70 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence, making him the oldest signer. He reportedly quipped, "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Which British monarch was on the throne throughout the American Revolution?

George III is the 'He' of the Declaration's long list of grievances, which famously begins 'He has refused his Assent to Laws'; he reigned from 1760 to 1820.

Which battle is considered the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War?

The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, opened the Revolutionary War; the first shots came on Lexington Green at dawn, and Emerson later called the exchange at Concord's North Bridge 'the shot heard round the world'.

Who served as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War?

George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in June 1775. He led the army through the entire war, including the decisive victory at Yorktown in 1781.

What pamphlet by Thomas Paine, published in January 1776, argued powerfully for American independence?

Common Sense was published anonymously and sold roughly 500,000 copies; its 47 pages made the case for independence in plain language ordinary colonists could follow.

The Liberty Bell is inscribed with a quote from which book of the Bible?

The line is Leviticus 25:10. The bell was ordered from London in 1752 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, and abolitionists in the 1830s were the ones who first called it the 'Liberty Bell'.

By passing the Lee Resolution, on which date did the Continental Congress actually vote for independence from Britain?

July 2, 1776 was the vote on Richard Henry Lee's resolution; the two days that followed went to revising the Declaration's wording, including cutting a passage denouncing the slave trade.

Which colony abstained when Congress voted on the Declaration of Independence in 1776?

New York's delegates had not yet received authorization from their provincial convention, which formally approved the Declaration on July 9, 1776.

Jefferson, Adams and Franklin all sat on which committee, appointed in June 1776 to draft the Declaration of Independence?

The Committee of Five was Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston, appointed on June 11, 1776.

When did fireworks first become part of Fourth of July celebrations?

The first organized July 4th fireworks display was held in 1777, on the first anniversary of independence. Philadelphia held a celebration that included bonfires, bells, and fireworks.

Which country is the largest supplier of fireworks to the United States?

China, where fireworks originated in the Song dynasty, supplies the large majority of fireworks the United States imports — roughly 95 percent by value through the 2010s.

How many hot dogs did Takeru Kobayashi eat at Coney Island in 2001, nearly doubling the old record?

Takeru Kobayashi ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the 2001 contest, nearly doubling Kazutoyo Arai's 2000 record of 25⅛; his techniques changed the sport, and Joey Chestnut later pushed the mark to 76.

Which competitive-eating showdown is held every July 4 in Coney Island?

The Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs contest gives competitors 10 minutes to eat as many hot dogs and buns as they can; it is held each July 4 at the chain's original Coney Island restaurant.

Which country is said to host the largest Fourth of July celebrations outside the United States?

Denmark's Rebild Society has held a July 4 festival in the Rebild Hills of northern Jutland since 1912, a homecoming for Danish-Americans often called the largest Independence Day celebration outside the United States.

What city hosts the largest fireworks display in the United States each Fourth of July?

New York City's Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks, staged since 1976 from barges on the East River or Hudson, is the nation's largest Independence Day display, firing tens of thousands of shells.

Which song began as an 1814 poem written after the bombardment of Fort McHenry?

The Star-Spangled Banner began as Francis Scott Key's poem 'Defence of Fort M'Henry', written after he watched the British bombard the fort on September 13-14, 1814; it was set to the tune 'To Anacreon in Heaven'.

In what year did the Fourth of July become a federal holiday?

Congress made the Fourth of July an unpaid holiday for federal employees in 1870, in the same act as New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas; it did not become a paid holiday until decades later.

What are the three colors of the American flag?

The American flag is red, white, and blue. The meanings often attached to them — valor, purity and justice — were actually assigned by Charles Thomson in 1782 to the colors of the Great Seal.

The oldest continuous US Independence Day celebration, a parade held since 1785, is in which state?

Bristol, Rhode Island, also fired thirteen-gun salutes at dawn and dusk on July 4, 1777, one of the earliest recorded observances.

Who wrote America the Beautiful?

Bates, a Wellesley English professor, wrote the poem in 1893 after a train trip to Colorado; the tune came separately from church organist Samuel A. Ward.

Which signer of the Declaration of Independence was the last survivor, dying in 1832?

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland's wealthy Catholic delegate, outlived every other signer; he died on November 14, 1832, at age 95, having laid the first stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on July 4, 1828.

Yankee Doodle was originally written by the British to mock which group?

Yankee Doodle was written by British soldiers during the French and Indian War to mock the disorganized colonial troops. The Americans later adopted it as a patriotic anthem, turning the insult into a badge of pride.

Which U.S. president was born on the Fourth of July?

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, was born on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont; in 1923 he took the presidential oath there by lamplight from his father, a notary public, after Harding's death.

What piece does the Boston Pops traditionally perform on the Fourth of July?

The Boston Pops Orchestra traditionally performs Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as part of their annual Fourth of July concert at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, complete with real cannon fire and church bells.

God Bless America was written by which famous songwriter?

Irving Berlin wrote God Bless America in 1918 during World War I, but revised and popularized it in 1938 when Kate Smith performed it on her radio show. Berlin donated all royalties to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Which famous American symbol was a gift from France, unveiled in 1886?

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States, dedicated on October 28, 1886. Designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, it stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor as a symbol of freedom and democracy.

The Liberty Bell's metal is roughly 70% copper and 25% what?

The Liberty Bell is about 70 percent copper and 25 percent tin, with traces of lead and other metals; cast in London in 1752, it cracked on its first test ring and was twice recast by Pass and Stow.

Which state was the first to make the Fourth of July an official state holiday in 1781?

Massachusetts became the first state to make July 4th an official state holiday in 1781, five years after the Declaration of Independence. It would take nearly another century before it became a federal holiday in 1870.

What is the name of the noon gun volley, one shot per state, fired by U.S. military bases every Independence Day?

The Salute to the Union is fired at noon on Independence Day at Army posts with artillery — one gun for each state, fifty since Hawaii joined in 1959, up from thirteen in 1777.

Which founding father, speaking in March 1775 to urge military action against the British, said 'Give me liberty, or give me death'?

Patrick Henry's line persuaded the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775 to take military action against the British, helping bring Virginia into the Revolution.

In what year did Congress finally make Independence Day a paid federal holiday?

Congress made Independence Day a paid federal holiday in 1938; federal employees had been given the day off without pay since 1870.

Which town of about 6,000 did Congress name 'America's Official Fourth of July City' in 1979?

Seward has celebrated on the same town square since 1868 and swells to more than 40,000 people every July 4.

A New York crowd toppled a lead statue of the king in July 1776, reportedly to turn it into what?

Ammunition: the gilded lead statue of George III at Bowling Green was hauled to Litchfield, Connecticut, and melted into 42,088 musket balls for the Continental Army; surviving fragments are held by the New-York Historical Society.

Whose oversized signature on the Declaration of Independence made his name slang for 'signature'?

As President of Congress he signed first, and the story that he wanted King George to read it without spectacles is a later embellishment.

Which former president also died on the Fourth of July, in 1831, five years after Adams and Jefferson?

James Monroe, the fifth president, died on July 4, 1831, making him the third president to die on Independence Day. This remarkable coincidence cemented the near-mythical connection between the holiday and the Founding Fathers.

Which colony reversed itself and voted for independence on 2 July 1776?

South Carolina's delegation, led by Edward Rutledge, had voted no in the July 1 trial vote but switched on July 2 for the sake of unanimity; twelve colonies then voted yes and New York abstained.

Who gave the Declaration of Independence its first public reading, in Philadelphia on 8 July 1776?

Nixon, a colonel in the city militia, read it at noon while readings also took place in Trenton and Easton. The State House bell probably rang to gather the crowd.

How did General Washington mark the Fourth of July in 1778 at his New Jersey headquarters?

Washington ordered a double rum ration for the troops at New Brunswick, New Jersey, on July 4, 1778, days after the Battle of Monmouth, along with an artillery salute and a running feu de joie of musket fire.

In what year did 'The Star-Spangled Banner' officially become the national anthem of the United States?

Francis Scott Key wrote the words in 1814 during the War of 1812, and the song served as a de facto anthem for over a century before Congress made it official on 3 March 1931.

Which president fell ill at a July 4, 1850 Washington Monument ceremony and died days later?

Zachary Taylor attended a July 4, 1850 fundraising ceremony at the unfinished Washington Monument, reportedly ate cherries and iced milk, fell ill with a stomach ailment and died on July 9, 1850.

Who was the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence?

Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, born November 23, 1749, was 26 when he signed the Declaration of Independence in August 1776; he later served as governor of South Carolina.

Which signer recalled the 2 August 1776 signing as a scene of 'pensive and awful silence'?

Benjamin Rush described it in an 1811 letter to John Adams, also recording how portly Benjamin Harrison told slight Elbridge Gerry that when hanged he would die in minutes while Gerry would 'dance in the air an hour or two'.

Which Confederate stronghold surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on July 4, 1863?

Vicksburg, Mississippi, surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863, after a 47-day siege, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River a day after Lee's defeat at Gettysburg.

Roughly how many of the 200 Declaration broadsides printed on 4 July 1776 survive?

Two of the survivors are at the Library of Congress. Hancock sent one to Washington with orders to have it proclaimed 'at the Head of the Army'.

Which American songwriter was born on July 4, 1826, the day Adams and Jefferson died?

Stephen Foster, writer of 'Oh! Susanna' and 'My Old Kentucky Home', was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1826 — the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration and the day Adams and Jefferson died.

At which Virginia estate did Thomas Jefferson die on July 4, 1826?

Thomas Jefferson died at Monticello, his hilltop home near Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 4, 1826, a few hours before John Adams died in Massachusetts.

Which Yankees first baseman gave his 'luckiest man' farewell speech on July 4, 1939?

Lou Gehrig, his career ended by ALS, told a Yankee Stadium crowd on July 4, 1939 that he considered himself 'the luckiest man on the face of the earth'.

Which Virginia delegate proposed the independence resolution in Congress on June 7, 1776?

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution in the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776, proposing that the colonies declare independence.

Beside which Massachusetts pond did Henry David Thoreau move into his cabin on July 4, 1845?

Henry David Thoreau moved into his cabin at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1845, beginning the two-year experiment in simple living he described in 'Walden' (1854).

Who wrote the 1976 memoir that became the film 'Born on the Fourth of July'?

Ron Kovic, a Marine paralyzed in Vietnam, published 'Born on the Fourth of July' in 1976; Oliver Stone's 1989 film of it starred Tom Cruise and won Stone the Best Director Oscar.

Over roughly how many days in June 1776 did Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence?

Jefferson took about 17 days, from the committee's appointment on June 11 to the draft's presentation on June 28, working in rented rooms on the second floor of a bricklayer's house at Seventh and Market Streets.

Which military academy formally opened on July 4, 1802?

The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, formally opened on July 4, 1802, under the Military Peace Establishment Act that Jefferson signed that March.

In which Massachusetts town did John Adams die on July 4, 1826?

John Adams died at Peacefield, his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1826, aged 90, unaware that Jefferson had died hours earlier in Virginia.

Who is credited with penning the engrossed parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence?

Timothy Matlack, a clerk to the Secretary of Congress, is credited with hand-lettering the official parchment copy of the Declaration, which delegates signed on August 2, 1776; it is displayed at the National Archives.

What military event of December 25-26, 1776 boosted American morale in the Revolution?

Washington's Crossing of the Delaware on the night of December 25-26, 1776 let the Continental Army surprise the Hessian garrison at Trenton; days earlier he had Paine's 'The American Crisis' read to his demoralised troops.

Construction of which canal began at Rome, New York, on July 4, 1817?

The Erie Canal's groundbreaking took place at Rome, New York, on July 4, 1817; the 363-mile waterway linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie opened in 1825.

What is the primary purpose of the Declaration of Independence?

The Declaration's purpose was to announce the break from Britain: Congress had already voted for independence on July 2, and the document explained that decision to the world and helped secure the French alliance.

What adjective does the Declaration use for the rights to 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'?

The Declaration famously states that all men are endowed with certain 'unalienable Rights,' including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Which president presided over the Bicentennial celebrations on July 4, 1976?

Gerald Ford presided over the Bicentennial on July 4, 1976, speaking at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and reviewing the Operation Sail tall ships in New York Harbor from the carrier USS Forrestal.

Which of these is a genuine well-known nickname for the United States flag?

The Stars and Stripes is the flag's best-known nickname, alongside 'Old Glory' and 'the Star-Spangled Banner'; the Union Jack is Britain's flag and the Tricolore is France's.

Which president signed the 1931 law that made 'The Star-Spangled Banner' the official national anthem?

Herbert Hoover signed the act on March 3, 1931; the song had been used unofficially for almost a century, and the Navy had adopted it for flag-raising in 1889.

Which Boston Pops conductor teamed with David Mugar in 1974 to launch the Esplanade fireworks concert?

Arthur Fiedler, the Pops' conductor from 1930 to 1979, teamed with businessman David Mugar in 1974 to add the 1812 Overture, cannons and fireworks to the Esplanade concert, creating the modern tradition.

Which Pennsylvania delegate refused to sign the Declaration, calling independence premature?

John Dickinson, author of the Olive Branch Petition, abstained from the vote and never signed; he then took up arms as a militia officer and later represented Delaware at the Constitutional Convention.

Which newspaper was the first to publish the Declaration of Independence, on 6 July 1776?

Benjamin Towne's Pennsylvania Evening Post printed the Declaration on July 6, 1776, the first newspaper to do so; printer John Dunlap had already run off about 200 broadsides overnight on July 4.

Which signer of the Declaration of Independence was a Presbyterian minister and Princeton's president?

John Witherspoon, a Scottish-born Presbyterian minister and president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), was the only active clergyman among the signers; his student James Madison later drafted the Constitution.

What did the Continental Congress order on July 19, 1776, regarding the Declaration of Independence?

Congress ordered the Declaration engrossed on parchment for signing on July 19, 1776, adding 'unanimous' to the title now that New York had approved; clerk Timothy Matlack probably did the hand-lettering on the sheet now in the National Archives.

Whose name, as Secretary of Congress, appeared with Hancock's on the first printed Declaration?

Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789, attested the Dunlap broadside beneath John Hancock's name; theirs were the only two names on that July 4-5 printing.

Which Connecticut delegate signed the Continental Association, Declaration, Articles of Confederation and Constitution?

Roger Sherman of Connecticut is the only person who signed all four founding documents: the 1774 Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.

What is the Philadelphia building at 700 Market Street, where Jefferson drafted his 1776 text, now called?

The Graff House, rebuilt by the National Park Service in 1975, is now called Declaration House; Jefferson rented its second floor from bricklayer Jacob Graff while drafting the Declaration in June 1776.

New England towns once marked the night before the Fourth by building bonfire pyramids out of what?

Barrels and casks, stacked into pyramids and lit on the night before the Fourth, were a New England tradition; Salem, Massachusetts built the tallest on Gallows Hill, reportedly reaching forty tiers.

Which president presided over Liberty Weekend, the Statue of Liberty's centennial, in July 1986?

Ronald Reagan relit the restored Statue of Liberty's torch on July 3, 1986, opening Liberty Weekend alongside French president François Mitterrand; the celebration marked the statue's 1886 dedication and its two-year restoration.

The Detroit-Windsor Freedom Festival pairs the Fourth of July with which other holiday?

Held since 1959 in the last week of June, it ends with one of North America's largest fireworks displays over the Detroit River.

Which English cathedral city was the birthplace of John Stafford Smith, composer of the anthem's tune?

Gloucester was the birthplace of John Stafford Smith (1750-1836), son of the cathedral organist, whose drinking-club song 'To Anacreon in Heaven' became the tune of 'The Star-Spangled Banner'.