Why September 3 Should Be Independence Day

What happened on July 4? We said "Hey, we want to be free." I agree, that's very important. If we'd never said that, we'd probably all be wearing big hats and sipping tea with our pinkies out.
But what people don't seem to realize is that there was a war becuase we said we wanted to be free, and if we had lost that war, we'd probably all be wearing big hats and sipping tea with our pinkies out, or at least be under British rule still. 
But we won the war. If you hadn't read the title of this, would you be able to tell me when the Revolutionary War ended, and America actually gained its freedom? 
I doubt many of you would. 

It was September 3rd, 1783. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
We should all be celebrating September 3rd as Independence Day. Sure, July 4th is still important. But if we would have lost the war, July 4 would be a sad day, it would be the day we announced a mission that would eventually fail. It would be like announcing Apollo 13. 

I understand celebrating July 4, it was an amazing achievement, declaring we want freedom. But I'd say a group of relatively small colonies banding together to defeat one of the greatest armies in the world is a better achievement. 


We celebrate May 8 as VE Day, the day World War Two was won, not December 8, the day we entered WWII. So why do we celebrate July 4 as if we won that day. We didn't win, we entered the war. It's important, but not nearly as important as actually achieving victory and freedom. 

I'm not alone in this opinion either. The amazing Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson had this to say on Twitter today: 
"July 4 - Happy "Birthday" USA. Celebrating the day we declared Independence, and not the day we actually achieved it."