The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Congress voted for independence on July 2, but the delegates approved the final wording of the Declaration two days later. The date printed on the document became the anniversary celebrated as Independence Day.
The Declaration announced that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as independent states rather than British colonies. Thomas Jefferson drafted the main text, while Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston helped revise it as the Committee of Five.
A common mix-up concerns the signing. Most delegates signed the engrossed parchment on August 2, 1776, although some signatures were added later. Thus, July 4 marks adoption of the text, not the day every delegate signed it. America250 uses the 1776 adoption as the central event behind the 2026 semiquincentennial.