Return to the MHS home page

Online: The Adams Family

Guide to Adams Resources on this Site

Selected Manuscripts

Timeline
Biographical Sketches

Genealogy

Quotations

 Related Pages:
   Adams Electronic Archive
   JQA: One President's Adolescence





Selected Manuscripts
The Great Anniversary Festival

John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776
 

The Continental Congress resolved on 2 July 1776 "That these United Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States." In this letter written a day later, John Adams reflected on the event and tried to sum up what it meant for Americans of his own time and in the future. On 4 July the corrected and approved text of the Declaration of Independence was printed for distribution. It is the latter date that Americans celebrate with "Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations."
Click on the appropriate link below to see either a full size original of this document or a transcription.