When was independent day

The custom eventually spread to other towns, both large and small, where the day was marked with processions, oratory, picnics, contests, games, military displays and fireworks. Observations throughout the nation became even more common at the end of the War of with Great Britain. Weightman, declining an invitation to come to Washington, D. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever wrote. In it, Jefferson says of the document:.

Other Founders would say July 4, the day that is currently recognized as a federal holiday by our national government. After voting on independence on July 2, the Continental Congress then needed to draft a document explaining the move to the public. Once the Congress approved the actual Declaration of Independence document on July 4, it ordered that it be sent to a printer named John Dunlap.

Today, 26 copies remain. On July 8, , Colonel John Nixon of Philadelphia read a printed Declaration of Independence to the public for the first time on what is now called Independence Square. Most of the members of the Continental Congress signed a version of the Declaration on August 2, , in Philadelphia.

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