Happy 4th of July!

The History of Independence Day

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independence from England, an event which eventually led to the formation of the United States. Each year on July 4th, also known as Independence Day, Americans celebrate this historic event.
Conflict between the colonies and England was already a year old when the colonies convened a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. In a June 7 session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution with the famous words: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the exact same day: July 4, 1826. 

Remarkably, their passing occurred on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson died first at Monticello at the age of 83, and Adams died hours later in Massachusetts at the age of 90, entirely unaware of his friend's passing. Adams's last recorded words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives".