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Today in History, July 2nd

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted for independence from Britain. Plus Garfield's shooting and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 2 min read Sources checked

President Johnson Civil Rights Act of 1968

Published July 2, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

July 2 is best known for 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to break from Great Britain. The date also saw President James A. Garfield shot in 1881, Amelia Earhart disappear in 1937 and President Lyndon B. Johnson sign the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

The big story: Congress votes for independence (1776)

If John Adams had gotten his way, Americans would set off fireworks on July 2. That was the day the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, approved Richard Henry Lee’s resolution declaring the colonies free of Britain. Lee had first put the idea before Congress on June 7, but six colonies were not yet ready, so the vote was put off. When debate resumed on July 1, a majority was on board. Delegates wanted the break to look unanimous, so they waited one more day. On July 2, twelve colonies voted yes, and New York abstained because its delegates were unsure what folks back home wanted. Adams wrote that the date would be celebrated as the most memorable in American history. He was off by two days. Congress still had to finish editing Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence, and the date it adopted that text, July 4, is the one the nation remembers.

More events on July 2

Year	What happened
1839	Enslaved Africans revolted and took control of the ship Amistad.
1865	William and Catherine Booth founded the Christian Mission, later renamed the Salvation Army.
1881	President James A. Garfield was shot at a railroad station in Washington, D.C.
1937	Aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan were reported missing near Howland Island.
1947	Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov walked out of talks, rejecting the Marshall Plan.
1964	President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation in public places and banning job discrimination by race.
1990	A stampede in a tunnel in Mecca killed more than 1,400 pilgrims.
1997	Men in Black opened in theaters.
2021	U.S. forces left Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan and turned it over to Afghan forces.

Born on July 2

1714: Christoph Willibald Gluck, opera composer best known for Orfeo ed Euridice, born near Berching in Bavaria.
1908: Thurgood Marshall, civil rights lawyer and the first Black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, born in Baltimore.
1925: Medgar Evers, civil rights activist in Mississippi, born in Decatur, Mississippi.