When is Independence Day?
Answer
July 4
Explanation
Independence Day in the United States is observed on July 4 every year. The date marks the day in 1776 when the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), formally adopted the final wording of the Declaration of Independence, the document that announced the political separation of the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain.
Congress had actually voted for independence two days earlier, on July 2, 1776, when it approved Richard Henry Lee's resolution declaring that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States. John Adams, in a letter to Abigail Adams dated July 3, 1776, predicted that the second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. He was off by two days because the country has chosen to commemorate the adoption of the Declaration's final text rather than the resolution itself.
The Declaration was approved on July 4, 1776 with 12 of the 13 colonies in favor (New York abstained, then approved on July 9), and the printed Dunlap broadside copies were distributed beginning that night. John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, signed the official engrossed copy on August 2, 1776, and most other delegates signed that day or in the following weeks and months.
Independence Day was first celebrated in 1777 with parades, fireworks, bonfires, and bell-ringing in Philadelphia. Congress made July 4 a federal holiday for federal employees in 1870, and a paid federal holiday in 1938. It is now one of the eleven federal public holidays listed at 5 U.S.C. section 6103(a). When July 4 falls on a Saturday, federal observance is the preceding Friday; when it falls on a Sunday, federal observance is the following Monday.
Customary observances include fireworks displays (notably the National Mall fireworks in Washington, D.C. and the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks in New York Harbor), parades, family gatherings and barbecues, the public reading of the Declaration of Independence, naturalization ceremonies, and patriotic concerts. Independence Day is the country's most widely celebrated civic holiday.
Why this matters for your test
Knowing the date of Independence Day is among the most basic civics facts and is a near-certain test question. It anchors applicants to the founding moment of the country and to the calendar of national holidays that punctuate American public life every year.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
