On this day, July 4th in 1776 — 238 years ago, the Continental Congress finalized the language on the document that declared our Independence from the British Crown. We celebrate our American Independence Day on the Fourth of July and we think of July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation but that actually happened two days before, on July 2nd, 1776, two days before the wording of the Declaration of Independence was finalized.