What Day of the Week Was July 4, 1776?
July 4, 1776 was a Thursday. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted the Declaration of Independence.
July 4, 1776 is a Thursday
- Day of the year:
- day 186 of 366, 180 days left in the year
- Week number:
- ISO week 27 of 1776 · US week 27
- Weekday number:
- 5 in the US (Sunday = 1) · 4 in ISO 8601 (Monday = 1)
Another date? Change the date above, or open the day of the week calculator for today's weekday and any other date.
July 4, 1776 in numbers
| July 4, 1776 | |
|---|---|
| Day of the week | Thursday |
| Weekday number | 5 in the US (Sunday = 1), 4 in ISO 8601 (Monday = 1) |
| Day of the year | 186 of 366, 180 days left |
| ISO week | Week 27 of 1776 |
| US week | Week 27 |
| Leap year | Yes, 1776 had 366 days |
| Julian Day Number | 2369916 |
July 1776 calendar
The whole month, with July 4, 1776 highlighted. The column on the left is the US week number.
| Wk | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 28 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 29 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 30 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 31 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
The years 1748, 1816 have the same calendar as 1776: they start on the same weekday and are leap years too, so July 4 is a Thursday in each of them.
How to work out that July 4, 1776 was a Thursday
Zeller's congruence gives the weekday of any Gregorian date with a few sums:
- Day q = 4; month m = 7.
- Year of the century K = 76; century J = 17.
- q + ⌊13 × (m + 1) ÷ 5⌋ + K + ⌊K ÷ 4⌋ + ⌊J ÷ 4⌋ + 5 × J = 4 + 20 + 76 + 19 + 4 + 85 = 208.
- 208 divided by 7 leaves 5, and 5 stands for Thursday (0 is Saturday, 1 Sunday, up to 6 for Friday).
DateMath's calculator gets the same answer another way, by counting the days from a fixed date and taking the remainder after whole weeks.
What day of the week is July 4 in the coming years?
| Date | Weekday | Since 1776 |
|---|---|---|
| July 4, 2027 | Sunday | 251 years |
| July 4, 2028 | Tuesday | 252 years |
| July 4, 2029 | Wednesday | 253 years |
| July 4, 2030 | Thursday | 254 years |
| July 4, 2031 | Friday | 255 years |
| July 4, 2032 | Sunday | 256 years |
| July 4, 2033 | Monday | 257 years |
| July 4, 2034 | Tuesday | 258 years |
| July 4, 2035 | Wednesday | 259 years |
| July 4, 2036 | Friday | 260 years |
How DateMath finds the day of the week
DateMath counts the days from a fixed date to yours in the Gregorian calendar and takes the remainder after whole weeks, so every date in the years 1 to 9999 gets its weekday, leap days included. The same date is then numbered both ways: in the US, Sunday is day 1 of the week; in ISO 8601, Monday is day 1 and Sunday day 7. Today and tomorrow come from your device's date.
- The Gregorian calendar. DateMath treats every date as a Gregorian date, with its leap-year rule: a year divisible by 4 is a leap year, except century years not divisible by 400, so 2000 had a February 29 and 2100 will not. Source: Gregorian calendar.
- ISO 8601 week dates. DateMath numbers weeks by ISO 8601: weeks start on Monday, week 1 is the week with the year's first Thursday, and a year has 52 or 53 weeks. Source: ISO 8601.
DateMath's date math is tested against more than 100 cases worked out by hand. Every worked example and table on the site is computed with the same code the calculators run, so a page and its calculator can't disagree.
Frequently asked questions
- What day of the week was July 4, 1776?
- July 4, 1776 was a Thursday. It was day 186 of 1776, in ISO week 27 and US week 27.
- Was July 4, 1776 a Gregorian date?
- Yes. Britain and its American colonies moved from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in September 1752, so July 4, 1776 is already a Gregorian date and its weekday needs no conversion. In the Julian calendar the same day was June 23, 1776.
- What day of the week is July 4 in 2027?
- July 4, 2027 is a Sunday. A date moves one weekday later each year, and two after a February 29.
- Was 1776 a leap year?
- Yes. 1776 had 366 days, with a February 29, so July 4, 1776 was day 186 of 366.