Why July 4th?

Why choose July 4th to declare our independence?  Were our Founding Fathers too lazy to pick a better date for Independence Day?  Or were they just too anxious?  Yes, I understand the urgency of action that was required.  We had already lost a lot of lives and wasted a lot of tea in our quest for independence.  It was time to act.  We needed an event that would be more effective than the previous arguing, fighting and galloping through town in the middle of the night.  Clearly the cool slogans and weird looking flags were not enough.  We needed more serious, consequential and result-oriented ACTION.  Something strong and flashy and intense and intimidating.  The time had come to finally show we meant business by writing stuff down on a piece of paper and having a million people sign it in all different sizes.  That would surely do the job.

So I understand that they were ready for the big change, but why did it have to be done on July 4th?  It seems like sort of a random day.  Wouldn’t it have made more sense to do it on January 1st and start the new year with a bang?  New Year, New Country.  Or if they couldn’t wait that long, couldn’t they at least have waited until August 1st so that the new country was born neatly at the beginning of the month?  They could have used the rest of July to plan a little more, maybe get the thing typed up or printed nice and neat.  They could have squared out the edges of the paper  or added some signature lines.

Maybe they couldn’t wait until after July.  Perhaps the events of the moment called for some spontaneous Declaration writing.  But even if that were the case, they could have gone the other direction and gotten it done earlier.  Maybe if Jefferson spent a little more time on planning and a little less time in the slaves’ quarters he could have gotten his assignment completed 4 days earlier before July kicked in.

Furthermore, July isn’t the ideal month for this sort of thing.  Isn’t it hot enough already without having to declare your independence?  I mean there was no air conditioning, no Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad Cooling Towels and no bottles of Corona Light to cool you down.  Maybe September 1st might have worked better.  Kick off Autumn with some freedom.  Listen to the Labor Day Vivaldi Block Party Weekend on the radio while the temperature cools down, barbecue up some corn and then Bam! - hit England with the bad news.

Nor is the 4th of any month a great day to start a country.  The switch-over really must have messed up the July book-keeping for those who were billing the government.  Monthly invoices had to be split in 2.  July 1st through July 3rd was billed to England or “The Colonies” or whatever entity was paying the bill.   July 4th through July 31st was billed to the new United States of America.   (They probably wondered: Should we even bill them?  How long is this new union gonna last anyway?)

Then again, maybe it all makes sense.  Perhaps it is just another example of what makes this country great.  We do things on our own terms; when we’re ready.  Rules are nice when they are convenient.  But otherwise, screw it.  Who needs to start at the beginning of a month.  We’ll declare our independence whenever the heck we want.  July 4th, April 26th, October 19th.  We’re independent when we say we’re independent!  Doing what we want, when we want - it’s the American Way.