We wish you a happy 4thof July with best wishes from all of us at OPEXEngine, the only INDEPENDENT SaaS benchmarking platform.
In the spirit of the holiday, we’ve collected some 4thof July-related facts (since we love facts and statistics):
- The Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 men from 13 colonies.
- Only John Hancock actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.
- The average age of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence was 45. The youngest was Thomas Lynch, Jr (27) of South Carolina. The oldest delegate was Benjamin Franklin (70) of Pennsylvania. The lead author of The Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, was 33.
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the only two signers of the Declaration of Independence who later served as President of the United States.
- Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe all died on the Fourth; Adams and Jefferson (both signers of the Declaration) died on the Fourth in 1826 within hours of each other.
- In 1776, there were 2.5 million people living in the 13 colonies. On June 30, 2019, the U.S. population was 329 million.
- Massachusetts was the first state to recognize July 4th as a national holiday in 1781; Congress voted to make July 4th a federal holiday in 1870 – 90 years later.
- On the Fourth in 2019, Americans are estimated to spend an average of $73.33 on food items; total expected spending on food items is expected to reach $6.78 B, according to the National Retail Federation.
- In 2018, 90% of US firework imports came from China, valued at $325M, followed at a distant second by Israel supplying under $10M of fireworks.
Happy Fourth of July!
