Todayâs Highlight in History: On July 4, 1976, America celebrated its bicentennial with daylong festivities; President Gerald R. Ford made stops in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Independence Hall in Philadelphia and New York, where more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in Operation Sail. On this date: In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, New York. In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died. In 1831, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, died in New York City at age 73.