"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. 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 from this Time forward forever more." ~ John Adams
Of course, John Adams mistook the importance of legality for that of rhetoric. For as Posterity knows well, the Fourth Day of July 1776 became the National Day of the United States. Although, the legal separation of the Colonies from Great Britain occurred on that Second Day when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence behind closed doors. Thereupon, Congress appointed a Committed of Five, headed by Thomas Jefferson, to articulate to the Public the reasons for the Congress's declaration. The resultant document was the Declaration of Independence, which was made known to the Public on the Fourth of July 1776. Concerning, however, the official signing of the aforementioned document, there has been a historical debate, culminating in 1884 when:
Mellen Chamberlain, the distinguished historian and Librarian of the Boston Public library, definitely established the fact that Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson had all been defective in their memory and that the Declaration positively had not been signed on July 4 ("The Authentication of the Engrossed Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776", Wilfred J. Ritz).
Contradicting historical fact and legal truth, our Nation's holiday remains and shall continue to remain on the Fourth of July upon the foundation of political rhetoric.
