The United States Congress first designated Independence Day as a federal holiday in 1870.
On June 28, 1870, Congress created a group of national holidays for federal employees in Washington, D.C. The original four included New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. The law was intended to align federal observances with similar holidays recognized by states around the District of Columbia.
The 1870 measure did not immediately create the nationwide holiday system familiar today. Congress extended the coverage to all federal employees in 1885. Independence Day itself commemorates the Continental Congress’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
This date can be confused with 1776, the year of the Declaration, or with 1941, when Congress established the modern list of legal public holidays for federal employees. The earlier federal recognition of Independence Day began in 1870.