A Founding Father Missed It By That Much

John Adams was one of the stuffier characters of the Revolution, so it always tickles me that among his voluminous pronouncements, he got this big one wrong by 48 hours.

The Continental Congress declared American independence on July 2, 1776. What happened on the Fourth of July, then? The document affirming that action -- the Declaration of Independence -- was revised, signed by the whole crowd, and officially adopted. It took several days more for the news to reach the other colonies and General George Washington, and I gather it wasn't until a year later that the formal anniversary was celebrated -- on July 4.

Adams figured the event itself would be the big hullabaloo, not the final signing, and in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, he wrote "The second day of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that this 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 solemnixed with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever."

This letter is in "Liberty and Union," an 1888 history book of mine that once belonged to the "Tropico Free Library" -- Tropico being a town that merged into Glendale in the 1920s. At least the book didn't do what I gather some history texts did: pull a "1984" and change the date in the Adams letter to July 4. Because of course the Founding Fathers couldn't be anything but infallible.

I say we split the differerence and start celebrating today. Let cranky old John Adams have one gimme.