Most Americans are all familiar with the reason we celebrate July Fourth as Independence Day. But do you remember these other events that happened on the nation’s birthday?
July 4 Most Americans are all familiar with the reason we celebrate July Fourth as Independence Day.
This was the day in 1776 that the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence explaining why the Founding Fathers wanted to separate from Britain.
Though the American Revolutionary War formally began a year earlier with the Battles of Lexington and Concord and ended several years later, July 4, 1776, would forever come to mark the founding of the United States of America.
But in the years since, there have been other important events to take place on July 4th, marking great achievements and solemn moments in American history.
1802 — West Point opens
Less than two decades after the conclusion of the American Revolution, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., opened on July 4, 1802. Two people graduated that first year; in 2025, that number had risen to 1,002.
1817 — Construction on Erie Canal begins
The United States’ first man-made waterway, the Erie Canal was formally started on July 4, 1817. It was completed less than a decade later, in 1825. One of the most important trade routes of the 19th century, it connected the Great Lakes in the Midwest to the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River.
President George W. Bush named the canal the nation’s 23rd heritage corridor in 2000.
1826 — Two presidents die
In one of history’s most notable coincidences, John Adams (the second U.S. president) and Thomas Jefferson (the third) both died on July 4, 1826. Both of these Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence 50 years earlier. The one-time rivals maintained correspondence with each other in their years after leaving Washington, D.C.
1863 — Confederates surrender at Vicksburg
On July 4, 1863, the yearlong Siege of Vicksburg came to an end amid the American Civil War. Confederate troops surrendered to the Union in Vicksburg, Miss., one day after defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. These two events marked a turning point in the war in favor of the North.
