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ASPPA Connect Observes Independence Day

In observance of Independence Day, there will be no ASPPA Connect on Monday, July 4, 2016. The Connect will return on Wednesday, July 6. However, in honor of our nation’s birthday, here are some interesting facts concerning the annual celebration.

  • Richard Henry Lee, one of the Virginia delegates to the Continental Congress, on June 7, 1776 introduced a motion calling for the colonies’ independence.

  • Congress appointed a five-man committee to draft a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain. It included John Adams (Mass.), Benjamin Franklin (Penn.), Robert Livingston (N.Y.), Roger Sherman (Conn.) and the delegate who ended up being its author — Thomas Jefferson (Va.).

  • The Continental Congress actually voted in favor of independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, not July 4. It adopted the Declaration on Independence on July 4.

  • John Adams insisted that American independence should be celebrated on July 2, and would refuse invitations to appear at Independence Day events that were held on July 4.

  • Philadelphia held the first annual commemoration of independence on July 4, 1777.

  • In honor of Independence Day on July 4, 1778, George Washington issued double rations of rum to all his soldiers.

  • Massachusetts in 1781 became the first state to make July 4 an official state holiday.

  • Three presidents died on July 4: John Adams (1797-1801) and Thomas Jefferson (1801-09) on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of U.S. independence, and James Monroe (1817-25) on July 4, 1831.

  • On July 4, 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill to extend and modify the charter of the Bank of the United States.

  • On July 4, 1848, President James K. Polk attended the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

  • July 4 became an official federal holiday in 1870.

  • Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, was born on July 4, 1872.

  • July 4 became a paid holiday for all federal employees in 1941.