1776: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
1802: The United States Military Academy opens at West Point, New York.
1817: Construction on the Erie Canal begins in Rome, New York.
1826: Former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both signers of the Declaration of Independence, die on the 50th anniversary of its adoption.
1831: Former President James Monroe, another Founding Father, also dies on July 4th.
1855: The first edition of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” is published.
1863: Confederates surrender at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.
1884: The completed Statue of Liberty is formally presented to the U.S. ambassador in Paris as a commemoration of the friendship between France and the United States.
1934: Scientist Marie Curie dies from radiation-induced leukemia.
1997: NASA’s Mars Pathfinder becomes the first U.S. spacecraft to land on Mars in over two decades.
