4th of July is a national holiday celebrating the United States’ independence from England. However, as we know, not everyone was granted freedom on that day in 1776. Should the 4th of July be considered America’s “Independence Day”? Why or why not?

The Fourth of July is steeped in patriotism and tradition, and celebrated as the day disgruntled American colonists broke ties with Great Britain and declared their intention to found a democratic nation of their own.

But the history behind the holiday isn’t so clear-cut. The anniversary of American independence is July 2, not July 4. And the revolutionaries who founded the nation didn’t guarantee all of its residents “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

In 1774, after years of unfair taxation and imperial control, complaints against the British crown had reached a fever pitch in the 13 American colonies. War had begun to look inevitable and so, in September, delegates from the colonies met to discuss their grievances in what they called the Continental Congress.

The process of declaring independence didn’t get underway until June 7, 1776, when Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution in the Second Continental Congress. Just 80 words long, the Lee Resolutionproposed the dissolution of any political connection between Great Britain and the colonies.