On July 4, 1776, representatives from the original 13 American Colonies came together to formally adopt a document that listed all their grievances against the British government and announce their independence from the crown. This document became known as the Declaration of Independence.

Print of the Declaration of Independence, 1976, from the National Archives, Records of the Department of State
In the years leading up to this landmark document, the British Parliament passed a number of Acts that unfairly taxed the American Colonies, without any representation. In 1773, as an act of revolt against the British and their tax on tea in America, colonists threw crates of tea imported from Britain into the Boston harbor. Over the next two years, the Colonies grew more and more angry at the British, until they decided they had had enough.

In June 1776, a committee that included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston came together to draft a document that would not only sever the colonies’ ties with King George III, but also express the values of the new country. As the main draftsman of the Declaration, Jefferson wanted the document to feature three main truths: that all men are created equal, that all men have some rights given to them by God and that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

However, King George III did not want to lose this valuable land, and so the colonies took to arms to defend their new country and rights in what is now known as the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, it took five long years of war before the British surrendered in October 19, 1781, and the United States of America could begin the business of becoming a nation.

Engrossed Declaration of Independence, 1776, from the National Archives, Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention.

View the Declaration of Independence here.

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There is something written on the back of the Declaration of Independence, but it isn’t a secret map or code. Instead, there are a few handwritten words that say, “Original Declaration of Independence / dated 4th July 1776”. No one knows who wrote this, but it was probably added as a label when the document was rolled up for transportation and storage.

No one who signed the Declaration of Independence was born in the United States of America. The United States didn’t exist until after the Declaration was signed! However, all but eight of the signers were born in colonies that would become the United States.

After the Declaration was passed on July 4, 1776, Congress ordered that it be sent to a printer named John Dunlap. About 200 copies of the Dunlap Broadside were printed and distributed throughout the colonies, with John Hancock’s name printed at the bottom. Today, 26 copies remain.

The signers sent a copy of the Declaration to King George III with only two names on it: John Hancock and Charles Thomson, the President and the Secretary of the Continental Congress. Why? They didn’t want the British to have the names of all those committing treason!

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When the National Archives Building was built in the mid-1930s, the architects designed and built an exhibition hall that included space for two large murals, measuring 14 by 36 feet, celebrating the nation’s founding documents. The muralist commissioned for the project, Barry Faulkner, decided paint to large murals, one depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the other showing the adoption of the Constitution.

Both murals are Faulkner’s own imagined interpretation of events, not historically accurate depictions. In reality, the people shown were never in the room at the same time for any dramatic presentation of the documents that forged a nation.

Working from portraits and woodcuts of the Founders as well as historical descriptions about their height, coloring, and wardrobe, Faulkner costumed and posed live models, and then he and his assistants spent a year making small sketches of each person, then a small-scale color rendering of the murals, before beginning to paint the huge canvasses.

Rather than placing the delegates in Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the conventions were held, Faulkner designed a landscape background using the skies to increase the drama of the murals. The sky in the Declaration mural is dark and stormy, symbolizing its adoption in the midst of war, and the flags seen in the background are well-known Revolutionary battle flags.

Each mural weighs approximately 350 pounds and measures 14 ft by 35 ft. They are among the largest single-piece oil-on-canvas murals in the United States.

Faulkner’s studio wasn’t large enough to accommodate the massive canvases so he moved his studio to the cavernous attic of Grand Central Station New York to complete the murals.

Faulkner wanted to tie in the contribution of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, so he painted Lincoln’s profile into one of the clouds.

Variously known as the Fourth of July and Independence Day, July 4th has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution.

The very first Independence Day celebration took place not on July 4 but on July 8! On that day in 1776, the first celebration took place in Philadelphia. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud, city bells rang, and bands played. The following year, Philadelphia’s celebration moved to July 4 – the actual date of the adoption of the Declaration.

The custom eventually spread across America to communities both large and small, where America’s independence was celebrated with parades, picnics, games, military displays, speeches, and fireworks. Observations throughout the nation became even more common at the end of the War of 1812 with Great Britain.

Today, July 4 is celebrated in much the same way, especially here in the nation’s capital. At the National Archives, thousands come to see the original Declaration of Independence, and hear it read aloud on the steps. A grand parade winds its way through the city each year, and the night is capped with a patriotic concert and fireworks on the National Mall.

Three of the first five U.S. presidents died on July 4. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, the 50th anniversary of the country’s birth. Adams’ last words were “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” James Monroe, the fifth president, died five years later in 1831.

The Liberty Bell has not been rung since 1846, to avoid cracking it. To mark the quintessential day, every July 4 it is symbolically tapped 13 times.

The holiday is also officially celebrated in Denmark each year since 1912 at Rebild National Park. A group of Danish Americans bought 200 acres in 1912 to have a place to celebrate the American holiday with their families and other American expatriates.

In 1930, New York architect John Russell Pope was selected to design the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. The site chosen was halfway between the White House and Capitol Hill, and was the location of an historic farmers market.

Pope had the hard task of designing a building that was not only functional, but would also be a suitable home for the “Charters of Freedom” – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Pope decided on a neoclassical design for the facade that paid homage to the Greek origins of democracy, and complemented other buildings along the National Mall.

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the National Archives as an independent agency. The building was officially opened in 1937, but did not receive the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution from the Library of Congress until 1952. The Bill of Rights came to the Archives upon opening in 1937. These documents are housed in the Rotunda, a structure built in homage to freedom and democracy. Apart from the Charters of Freedom, the Archives Building in downtown Washington holds more than 757,000 square feet of other federal records. The Archives quickly grew beyond the space of this single building, and has since expanded to dozens of facilities across the country.

During the 21st-century, the Archives building underwent major renovations of the Rotunda and the construction of the National Archives Museum which includes the Records of Rights exhibit in the David M. Rubenstein Gallery, special exhibits in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, the Boeing Learning Center, the William G. McGowan Theater for public programs.

The Archives has 72 Corinthian columns that are each 53 feet high, 5 feet 8 inches in diameter, and weigh 95 tons.

The two bronze doors that guard the Constitution Avenue entrance each weigh 6½ tons and measure 38 feet 7 inches high, nearly 10 feet wide, and 11 inches thick. For a time they were the largest bronze doors in the world.

Only 2-5% of Federal documents in any given year are deemed historically valuable and preserved by the National Archives and Records Administration.