Today is Friday, July 4, the 185th day of 2024. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day.<\/p>\n
Today in history:<\/p>\n
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Also on this date:<\/p>\n
In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, New York.<\/p>\n
In 1817, construction of the Erie Canal began in Rome, New York.<\/p>\n
In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.<\/p>\n
In 1831, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, died in New York City at age 73.<\/p>\n
In 1855, the first edition of Walt Whitman\u2019s \u201cLeaves of Grass\u201d was published.<\/p>\n
In 1863, the Civil War Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, ended as a Confederate garrison surrendered to Union forces.<\/p>\n
In 1910, in what was billed as \u201cThe Fight of the Century,\u201d Black world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson defeated white former champ \u201cGentleman\u201d Jim Jeffries in Reno, Nevada; race riots across the country following the fight killed more than 20 people.<\/p>\n
In 1912, the 48-star American flag, recognizing New Mexico and Arizona statehood, was adopted.<\/p>\n
In 1939, Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees delivered his famous farewell speech in which he called himself \u201cthe luckiest man on the face of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1946, the United States and the Philippines signed the Treaty of Manila, recognizing Philippine independence from the US.<\/p>\n
In 1960, the current 50-star version of the US flag was adopted.<\/p>\n
In 1976, America celebrated its bicentennial with daylong festivities; President Gerald R. Ford made stops in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Independence Hall in Philadelphia and New York, where more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in Operation Sail.<\/p>\n
In 1987, Klaus Barbie, the former Gestapo chief known as the \u201cButcher of Lyon,\u201d was convicted by a French court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison (he died in September 1991).<\/p>\n
In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir parted after spending five days in orbit docked together.<\/p>\n
In 2012, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva cheered the apparent end of a decades-long quest for a new subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, or \u201cGod particle.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2013, the Statue of Liberty reopened on the Fourth of July, eight months after Superstorm Sandy shuttered the national symbol of freedom, damaging its docks.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Birthdays:<\/p>\n