IndependEnce Day

The 4 July 2025 marks the 249th anniversary of America’s independence. But here’s the thing, it’s not. It is a myth that the American Declaration of Independence was signed by Congress on this date; in fact, no one signed the document during July, indeed the final signature was not added until November 1776.

But how can such a simple mistake have been made about the most important event in American history?

Seven Years War

Following the Seven Years War (1756-1763) between France and Britain, that had started following border disputes in North America, and which Britain won; Britain needed to station a large army in the province to protect its territorial rights, but the war had cost them dearly, and the UK Parliament needed to raise money to fund the deployment of troops. So, they passed the Stamp Act that required a tax to be paid on all paper products, and to prove the tax had been paid, all paper had to be stamped.

But the American colonists, who by then, had set up their own ruling parties, and were paying their own local taxes, argued the Act was unfair as they had no representation in the British Parliament.

The political wrangling continued unabated for several months, and it was only when the boycotts and protests started to damage British trade, that the Act was repealed in 1766. Only to be replaced by the Declaratory Act that asserted Parliament’s right to pass laws ‘in all cases whatsoever’.

War broke out as a direct consequence of this Act.

France and Spain saw this as an opportunity to join forces with the colonists, not from any great feeling of camaraderie or fair play, though there was an element of this, it was mostly because those countries wanted ownership of large tracts of land for themselves.

July 1776, Act Two

John Adams, born 19 October 1735, two hundred and forty-three years after Christopher Colombus first set sail across the Atlantic, was to become the second President of the new United States of America, but the first ever Vice President.

A political genius ahead of his time, Adams was a man of high principle and fairness; in fact, such was Adam’s probity, he defended British soldiers during the Boston Massacre. A deed that whilst making him unpopular, also singled him out as a man of integrity who did not allow his emotions, or the heat of the moment, to overrule his firmly held beliefs.

But his political ideals, were too complicated and unpopular with many of his colleagues, and even though he accurately predicted that the French Revolution would lead to the horrific Reign of Terror, his promotion of the necessity for the chief executive of the American government to have a certain level of power over the propertied classes, led to a growing distrust of his policies.

(If you want to read about the French Revolution, and the Reign of Terror, head over to my February post).

Nevertheless, Adams was one of the fifty-six statesmen who signed the Declaration. The others included Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. But it was not on 4 July. If anything, 2 July should mark the occasion, because it was on that day that the Second Continental Congress voted in favour of the resolution for independence. Adam is said to have remarked to his wife, that he expected the day to be marked with much celebration in years to come.

Thomas Jefferson redrafted the document several times, and it is believed most delegates signed it on 2 August.

Late to the Boston Tea Party, the British government didn’t know anything about the document, until 30 August 1776, by which time the American War of Independence was in its sixteenth month.

It was several more years that the war raged on, but when France, and then Spain, followed by the Netherlands, joined the American colonies, it was just a matter of time before British rule came to an end.

But why did they choose the 4th and not the 2 July, when Congress voted for independence? I haven’t been able to find a satisfactory explanation.

Interestingly, Adams was one of three presidents who died on 4 July, the other two were Thomas Jefferson, and James Munroe. Odd that…

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