About July 4

July 4, 2025 is the 185th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 180 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.

DayOfTheWeek.org Are you looking for a day of the week calculator? Try it on any date like anniversaries, birthday of someone you know, or any other date that is special to you. You can even try it on historical dates. For example: July 4
(Sponsored by DayOfTheWeek.org)

Cancer is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Ruby is the modern birthstone for this month. Ruby is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 228 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

July 4: More About This Day

The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

What Happened On July 4

  • 414
    Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria who reigns as regent and proclaimed herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire.
  • 993
    Saint Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized.
  • 1534
    Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.
  • 1803
    The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
  • 1810
    The French occupy Amsterdam.
  • 1826
    Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, second president of the United States, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence.
  • 1863
    American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. 150 miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate Army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.
  • 1892
    Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.
  • 1913
    President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.
  • 1918
    Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
  • 1934
    Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.
  • 1939
    Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth” as he announces his retirement from major league baseball.
  • 1941
    Nazi Germans massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv.
  • 1950
    The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.
  • 1960
    Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).
  • 1966
    President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.
  • 1982
    Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.
  • 1987
    In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the “Butcher of Lyon”) is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
  • 1997
    NASA’s Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
  • 2004
    The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

MyFirstName.Rocks What no one tells you about your first name’s personality. Are there magical powers in your given name? Check out Timothy’s personality today! (Sponsored links)



Share or Link to This Page: