On this day: July 4

Events on July 4

• 1776 American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress, formally announcing and explaining separation from the Kingdom of Great Britain and the creation of the United States. Wikipedia
• 1827 Slavery is abolished in the State of New York. Wikipedia
• 1832 Durham University established by Act of Parliament; the first recognized university to be founded in England since Cambridge over 600 years earlier. Wikipedia
• 1881 In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens. Wikipedia
• 1887 The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi. Wikipedia
• 1892 Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a leap year with 367 days. Wikipedia
• 1914 The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: Allied forces led by the Australian general John Monash won the Battle of Hamel, demonstrating the effectiveness of combined-arms techniques in trench warfare. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement. Wikipedia
• 1941 The Holocaust: During the German occupation of Latvia, a number of synagogues in Riga were set on fire, killing many Jews who were confined within. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives. Wikipedia
• 1946 After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States. Wikipedia
• 1950 Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts. Wikipedia
• 1954 Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II, and nearly a decade after the war's end. Wikipedia
• 1960 The 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state over ten months prior (August 21, 1959), in accordance with the Flag Acts. Wikipedia
• 1973 Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago sign the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago establishing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). It replaces the Caribbean Free Trade Association as another step towards Caribbean regional integration. Wikipedia
• 1976 Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. Wikipedia
• 1977 The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit. Wikipedia
• 1982 Space Shuttle program: Columbia lands at Edwards Air Force Base at the end of the program's final test flight, STS-4. President Ronald Reagan declares the Space Shuttle to be operational. Wikipedia
• 1997 NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars. Wikipedia
• 1998 Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation. Wikipedia
• 2005 The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1. Wikipedia
• 2009 The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao. Wikipedia
• 2015 Chile claims its first title in international football by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América final. Wikipedia

Born on July 4

• 68 Salonia Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (died 119) Wikipedia
• 1546 Murad III, Ottoman sultan (died 1595) Wikipedia
• 1790 George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (died 1866) Wikipedia
• 1799 Oscar I of Sweden (died 1859) Wikipedia
• 1804 Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (died 1864) Wikipedia
• 1807 Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (died 1882) Wikipedia
• 1868 Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (died 1921) Wikipedia
• 1872 Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (died 1933) Wikipedia
• 1898 Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1910 Gloria Stuart, American actress (died 2010) Wikipedia
• 1910 Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1921 Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1924 Eva Marie Saint, American actress (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1926 Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1927 Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1937 Queen Sonja of Norway Wikipedia
• 1943 Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist Wikipedia
• 1952 Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia Wikipedia
• 1959 Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer Wikipedia
• 1964 Edi Rama, Albanian politician Wikipedia
• 1973 Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1995 Post Malone, American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer Wikipedia

Died on July 4

• 965 Benedict V, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1546 Hayreddin Barbarossa, Ottoman admiral (born 1478) Wikipedia
• 1826 Thomas Jefferson, American architect, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of the United States (born 1743) Wikipedia
• 1826 John Adams, American lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the United States (born 1735) Wikipedia
• 1831 James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (born 1758) Wikipedia
• 1848 François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician (born 1768) Wikipedia
• 1857 William L. Marcy, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 21st United States Secretary of State (born 1786) Wikipedia
• 1891 Hannibal Hamlin, American lawyer and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (born 1809) Wikipedia
• 1902 Swami Vivekananda, Indian monk and saint (born 1863) Wikipedia
• 1910 Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (born 1835) Wikipedia
• 1934 Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1963 Pingali Venkayya, Indian activist, designed the Flag of India (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1992 Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian bandoneon player and composer (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2016 Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (born 1940) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Antoine Daniel Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Andrew of Crete Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bertha of Artois Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Catherine Jarrige Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Józef Kowalski Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pier Giorgio Frassati Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elizabeth of Aragon (or of Portugal) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Oda of Canterbury Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ulrich of Augsburg Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• CARICOM Day Wikipedia
• The first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7 (Apatani people, Arunachal Pradesh, India) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Northern Mariana Islands) Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Rwanda) Wikipedia
• Republic Day (Philippines) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “July 4” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.