Today we celebrate our nation’s birth 247 years ago. But is this the correct birthday? Our friend Jeff Dunetz argued this weekend that the Continental Congress actually voted for independence on July 2, 1776, although the formal adoption did not take place until July 4. But we can go back even earlier to the origin of the independence movement in the Continental Congress.

On June 7, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee offered a motion that chartered the course of a new nation toward liberty from a distant and brittle monarch:

Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

So revolutionary was this demand — in multiple senses of the word — that the Continental Congress had to table it for three weeks. Delegates from other states had not been authorized to discuss independence, and they had to go back to their states to gain permission to support the motion. In the end, the delegates from New York didn’t get permission in time and ended up abstaining to preserve the unanimity of the Continental Congress on the vote on July 2. The Declaration was approved by a separate vote on July 4.

So if we are “conceived in liberty,” as Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, perhaps June 7 is our Conception Day. July 2nd might be considered as the day our labor started, and July 4th the proper day of the birth of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States as a formal entity.

How do we celebrate this birthday? Massachusetts declared it a state holiday even before the end of the Revolutionary War in 1781. After the War of 1812, celebrations became even more formal, but it still took Congress until 1870 to make it a federal holiday — and then 71 more years to make it a paid day off for federal workers. The form of celebration hasn’t really changed all that much over the past century-plus, History Channel writes:

Falling in mid-summer, the Fourth of July has since the late 19th century become a major focus of leisure activities and a common occasion for family get-togethers, often involving fireworks and outdoor barbecues. The most common symbol of the holiday is the American flag, and a common musical accompaniment is “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States.

Still, what has seemed to change in the last few decades is the passion of patriotism among Americans. We have gone from pride in our history of liberty to a self-abasement over the imperfect execution of it. Rather than see July 4 as a moment in human history where self-governance by a prudent and values-grounded citizenry bursts through a millennia of monarchy and class-based nobility, we instead focus on shame as an intruding culture and ongoing flagellation over history that should be learned but in context.

My friend Adam Baldwin and I discussed this in a recent episode of our VIP series The Amiable Skeptics last month — coincidentally, right around June 7, although it went up for our VIP members on June 9. Today’s a good day for this discussion, so I will publish it here live for everyone today. If you enjoy it — and I’m sure you will — consider subscribing to our VIP/VIP Gold membership to have continuing access to this, along with our other exclusive content: Week in Review, Off the Beaten Path, VIP Gold Chat with Cam Edwards, plus regular columns from Duane Patterson, Tom Jackson, and bonus columns from our regular team of writers. Plus, our members have exclusive access to the comments section at Hot Air and extend the discussion and debate on every thread!

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Happy Independence Day to all! (And come back later this morning for an awesome Independence Day remembrance from Beege!)