The 4th of July has become one of America’s most celebrated holidays. Family barbecues, homemade ice cream, and fireworks consume the nation, as its citizens pay tribute to what they consider to be the birthday of the United States. It is a grand show of patriotism, but there’s one small problem. Nothing very important happened on July 4, 1776, except that the delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia had to cut their work short because of a horde of giant horseflies that invaded Independence Hall.
The first official move towards independence from Great Britain had occurred on June 7, 1776, when Richard Henry Lee of Virginia petitioned the Congress to make a clean break from the Mother Country. Nearly all of the delegates leaned toward Lee’s clarion call, but few had the fortitude to take the final step that would turn their colonies into “free and independent states.” They preferred to ponder the problem for a while, so they tabled Lee’s motion.
The delegates did indeed ponder the problem but not for long. In less than a month they experienced a remarkable change in attitude. Recent actions by the British had put reconciliation beyond reach. By July 2, the colonists were ready to take action. Lee’s motion for a Declaration of Independence was brought back for a vote. It passed unanimously, and Thomas Jefferson with four other delegates accepted the assignment to prepare the wording of the document that expressed the will of Congress.
That night, John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail, “The Second Day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the Great Anniversary Celebration.”
So just what did happen on July 4, 1776? Actually, the Congress met that day for a single item of business. They gathered simply to approve the wording of the document that had been drawn up by Jefferson and his colleagues.
As the meeting was called to order, the July temperature began to rise quickly. The Sergeant-at-arms opened the windows to allow any hint of a breeze to flow across the room. Unfortunately, a slight puff of wind brought with it an invasion of giant horseflies from a nearby stable. The assembled delegates who had been arguing over trivial points in Jefferson’s wording were suddenly reduced to swatting horseflies. Jefferson remembered being attacked by “black flies that so tormented the delegates, biting through their silk hose [so] that they hurried as swiftly as possible.”
After a few minutes of battle, the insects prompted one tormented delegate to move to accept the document as it then stood. Someone seconded the motion, and it passed as the delegates fled the building and the horseflies.
Therefore, the notion that July 4, 1776, is Independence Day clearly misses the mark. The vote on independence had been taken two days earlier, and the document itself wasn’t signed until Aug. 2, 1776.
What Americans should be celebrating on July 4 is National Horsefly Day, for it was those pesky insects that cut short the debate on the wording of Jefferson’s document and preserved its dignity for future generations.