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Here are some fun facts to share on the Fourth of July while waiting for the hot dogs to cook on the grill:
• Three presidents died on July 4: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1826 and James Monroe in 1831. Calvin Coolidge was the only president born on July 4, in 1872.
• The Massachusetts General Court was the first state legislature to recognize July Fourth as a state celebration, in 1781.
• The first recorded use of the name “Independence Day” occurred in 1791.
• The U.S. Congress established Independence Day as an unpaid holiday for federal employees in 1870. It became a federal paid holiday in 1931.