Independence Day, 1776

Independence Day celebrates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It was a formal declaration to the King of Great Britain by the 13 British colonies in America that justified the independence of the United States, listing 27 grievances against King George III and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution.

The Fourth of July would not be an official holiday until congress passed a law making Independence Day a federal unpaid holiday on June 28, 1870. It wouldn’t be until 1938 that the Fourth of July would be a paid federal holiday along with Christmas, New Year’s, Memorial Day, Washington’s Birthday, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving.