Five Things You Don't Know About Independence Day

#1 - We should be celebrating on July 2nd

Representatives of the 13 colonies, called the Second Continental Congress, actually voted on July 2, 1776, in Philadelphia to declare independence.

July 4th wasn't the day Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence (that was in June 1776). Or the date on which the Declaration was delivered to Great Britain (that didn't happen until November 1776). Or the date it was signed (that was August 2, 1776).

So what did happen on July 4, 1776?

The Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. They'd been working on it for a couple of days after the draft was submitted on July 2nd and finally agreed on all of the edits and changes.   July 4, 1776, became the date that was included on the Declaration of Independence, and the fancy handwritten copy that was signed in August (the copy now displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.) It’s also the date that was printed on the Dunlap Broadsides, the original printed copies of the Declaration that were circulated throughout the new nation. So when people thought of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 was the date they remembered.

#2 - National Holiday

Independence Day was officially made a national holiday in 1870, as part of a bill that officially recognized several holidays, including Christmas.

#3 - Three of the first five presidents died on the Fourth of July:  John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Adams, the second president, and Jefferson, the third, died on the same day in 1826, the 50th anniversary. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president was born on July 4, 1872.

#4 - The song ‘God Bless America’ stayed in Irving Berlin’s rejection pile for 20 years

Famed American composer Irving Berlin gave his adopted nation one of its greatest and most iconic songs but it didn’t see the light of day for 20 years. Berlin was drafted into the military in the early 1900s and helped to draft a musical comedy for his fellow troops in which he composed the song for its final number.  However, Berlin didn’t think it would fit in the show and kept it in his file for 20 years until singer Kate Smith wanted a patriotic song to sing on the radio as war broke out across Europe. The song became one of the most requested patriotic ditties almost overnight and a staple in American songbooks.

#5 - The modern flag was designed by a high school student as part of a class project

High school student Robert G. Heft of Lancaster, Ohio was assigned to create a new “national banner” for America that would recognize the statehood of Alaska and Hawaii. Heft simply added two extra stars to the flag to give it an even 50 and stitched his own design. His teacher only gave him a “B-minus” for his effort, so he sent his project to President Dwight D. Eisenhower for consideration and a change of grade. Eisenhower chose his design personally and the new flag was officially adopted in 1960. His teacher then gave him an “A” instead.