Some Fourth of July Facts

• Three of the first five presidents—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe—died on July 4. Calvin Coolidge, on the other hand, was born on the Fourth, as was Malia Obama.

• There's another country that's big on the holiday: Denmark. Extensive Danish emigration to the US prompted the launch of celebrations in 1912. Now, a festival in the city of Rebild calls itself the biggest Fourth party outside the US; Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush have visited.
• Boston made the Fourth a city holiday in 1783, and North Carolina deemed it a statewide holiday the same year. It's only been a federal holiday since 1870, and federal workers didn't get a paid day off until 1938.