In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, the Continental
Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which
proclaimed the independence of the United States of America
from Great Britain and its king.

In a ceremony held in Paris on July 4, 1884, the completed
Statue of Liberty was formally presented to the United
States ambassador as a commemoration of the friendship
between France and the U.S.

The idea for the statue was born in 1865, when the French
historian and abolitionist Édouard de Laboulaye proposed
a monument to commemorate the upcoming centennial of
U.S. independence (1876), the perseverance of American
democracy and the liberation of the nation’s slaves.

By 1870, sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi had come up
with sketches of a giant figure of a robed woman holding
a torch—possibly based on a statue he had previously
proposed for the opening of the Suez Canal.

July 3, 1863: On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg,
Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s last attempt at breaking
the Union line ended in disastrous failure, bringing the most
decisive battle of the American Civil War to an end.

Robert E. Lee by Pompeo Coppini – University of Texas
at Austin, Austin, Texas.

On July 3, 1890, Idaho entered the Union as the 43rd state.

The word Idaho is derived from the Shoshone Ee-Da-How,
referring possibly to the ubiquitous purple flowers of the
area, but also translated as “gem of the mountains” or
“behold the sun coming down the mountain.”

Idaho was originally part of the vast northwest Oregon, or
Columbia River, country claimed by Spain, Russia, Great
Britain, and the United States.