Independence Daze

Why the Fourth is not the necessarily the first.

On July 1, 1776, the first vote on national independence from Great Britain was taken in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The motion carried 9–2.

The next day, the vote was taken again, with all 12 delegations voting in favor, 10 of them unanimously. And as far as John Adams was concerned, this was the final word.

“The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America,” he wrote to his wife, Abigail, back in Massachusetts. “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.” (John Adams wasn’t known to be wrong very often; however, history seems to prove him so in this case.)

Then, on July 4, 1776, the delegations from all 12 states did indeed vote unanimously in favor of the Declaration of Independence.

So that settled it, right? Except…

There are those of the opinion that the Declaration of Independence did not become legal until the signatures of the majority were affixed to the document. This didn’t happen until August 2, 1776.

And as far as Connecticut is concerned, whether the day should be July 1, 2, 4, or August 2 is purely academic. The Nutmeg State is proud to point out that it voted its own “Declaration of Independence” on June 18, 1776.

In making this known, Connecticut always manages to irritate Rhode Island, which is quick to note that it adopted a “Declaration of Independence” a full month and a half before Connecticut did.

Perhaps Vermont gets the last word, or at least one of them. As Vermont historian Vrest Orton has said, “Unlike the other states, Vermont was never a colony of Great Britain.” It therefore had no need to actually declare its independence.

Today all of us Americans can be thankful for our freedom from foreign rule. So happy First or Second or Fourth—well, happy Independence Day, everyone!

—Adapted from “Will the Real Independence Day Please Stand Up?” by Jud Hale, July 1983

Jodi Picoult (born May 19, 1966), from her novel My Sister’s Keeper. Though born and raised on Long Island, this best-selling writer lives with her family in Hanover, New Hampshire, and many of her 25 novels have been set in New England. Last year she won the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, which recognizes the region’s best writers; past winners include Robert Frost and May Sarton. As Picoult told her local paper, The Valley News , “It was almost as if someone said, ‘OK, you’re a real New Englander now.’”