Congress adopted the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the date at the heart of America250’s 250th-anniversary observances.
The Second Continental Congress approved the document in Philadelphia after debating and revising Thomas Jefferson’s draft. Its adoption followed the Lee Resolution of July 2, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies were free and independent states. The Declaration then explained the reasons for that separation.
A common mix-up concerns adoption and signing. Congress adopted the final wording on July 4, but most delegates signed the engrossed parchment copy on August 2, 1776. The document was also publicly read in several locations on July 8.
Independence Day commemorates July 4 because that is the date printed on the Declaration and associated with its formal adoption. America250 marks 250 years from that 1776 milestone in 2026.