Had John Adams gotten his way, we wouldn’t be celebrating Independence Day today. Writing to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776, one day after the Continental Congress had voted for independence, he reflected: “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable [epoch] in the history of America.”
“I am apt to believe,” he continued:
that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with [shows], games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.
Because the Continental Congress would agree to the final version of the Declaration of Independence one day later on July 4, 1776, Adams’s prediction proved incorrect — but only partially. The date was wrong, but Adams writes of an Independence Day celebration and spirit that ought to ring with remarkable familiarity to Americans, at least the part about games, sports, and bells.
Adams’s letter offers a striking reflection on what Independence Day is meant to celebrate. As he continued to Abigail:
You will think me transported with enthusiasm but I am not. — I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. — yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means.
This July 4, even though we must confess that Adams was off by two days, we can resolve to ensure that his faith in the American people proves fully prescient. Yes, celebrate the Declaration. Yes, celebrate the flag. But don’t forget to celebrate the virtue of the American people and the “toil and blood” that they have given — and please God will continue to give — to maintain them. John Adams would thank you for it.