What day do we celebrate this week?

An interesting bit of Independence Day history I learned today in a sacrament meeting talk:

In 1776, John Adams wrote the following to his wife of the day when the States declared independence from Great Britain:

"I am apt to believe 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 Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

I think that we have generally succeeded in celebrating it as he so desired.  However, the interesting part is that John Adams wasn't referring to the 4th of July, 1776.  The line which preceded the above quote was:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America."

Apparently we are actually two days late. :)

In reality, the colonies declared independence on the 2nd of July, but the founders decided to put it into writing for King George to read, and spent two days drawing up what we now know as the Declaration of Independence.  And so, we now celebrate the day when the document the Declaration of Independence was signed.