Cal State San Bernardino and its Palm Desert Campus will be closed on Thursday, July 4, in observance of the Independence Day holiday, as well as Friday, July 5, as part of the university’s 4-10 summer schedule.

Both campuses will reopen for business and summer session classes will resume on Monday, July 8. University Police will remain on duty.

Variously known as the Fourth of July and Independence Day, July 4 has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution (1775-83).

In June 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies then fighting in the revolutionary struggle considered a resolution to declare their independence from Great Britain. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later, its delegates adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

From 1776 until the present day, July 4 has been celebrated as the birth of American independence.