Bastille Day became an official French national holiday in 1880.
The date chosen was 14 July, linking the modern celebration to the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and to the Fête de la Fédération held on the same date in 1790. The second association helped republican politicians present the holiday as a national celebration of unity rather than solely a commemoration of a violent uprising.
The proposal was introduced by Benjamin Raspail on 21 May 1880 and passed by the French legislature in June. The law was officially promulgated on 6 July 1880, establishing 14 July as the annual national festival of the French Republic.
The choice was politically sensitive. Some lawmakers worried that celebrating the storming alone would emphasize bloodshed and the overthrow of the old order. By invoking both 1789 and the peaceful, federative celebration of 1790, the Third Republic gave the date a broader meaning. In France, the holiday is formally called the fête nationale.