Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day | |
---|---|
Also called | Fourth of July |
Observed by | United States |
Type | National day |
Significance | The day in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia |
Celebrations | Fireworks, family reunions, concerts, barbecues, picnics, parades, baseball games |
Date | July 4[a] |
Frequency | Annual |
Independence Day, known
The
Independence Day is commonly associated with
Background
During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain in 1776 actually occurred on July 2, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain's rule.[6][7] After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by the Committee of Five, which asked Thomas Jefferson to author its first draft.
While Jefferson consulted extensively with the other four members of the Committee of Five, he largely wrote the Declaration of Independence in isolation over 17 days between June 11, 1776, and June 28, 1776, from the second floor he was renting in a three-story private home at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia, now known as the Declaration House, and within walking distance of Independence Hall.[8]
Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, removing Jefferson's vigorous denunciation of
The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.[9]
Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.[10]
Historians have long disputed whether members of Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.[11][12][13][14][15]
By a remarkable coincidence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the only two signatories of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as presidents of the United States, both died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.[16] Although not a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, James Monroe, another Founding Father who was elected president, also died on July 4, 1831, making him the third President who died on the anniversary of independence.[17] The only U.S. president to have been born on Independence Day was Calvin Coolidge, who was born on July 4, 1872.[18]
Observance
- In 1779, July 4 fell on a Sunday. The holiday was celebrated on Monday, July 5.[19]
- In 1777, thirteen 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Ships in port were decked with red, white, and blue bunting.[20]
- In 1778, from his headquarters at ambassadors John Adams and Benjamin Franklin held a dinner for their fellow Americans in Paris, France.[19]
- In 1781, the Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize July 4 as a state celebration.[19][21]
- In 1783, Salem, North Carolina, held a celebration with a challenging music program assembled by Johann Friedrich Peter entitled The Psalm of Joy. The town claims it to be the first public July 4 event, as it was carefully documented by the Moravian Church, and there are no government records of any earlier celebrations.[22]
- In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.[23]
- In 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.[24]
Customs
Independence Day is a
Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue;[26] many take advantage of the day off and, in some years, a long weekend to gather with family members or friends. Parades are often attended in many towns and cities, some being hours-long, with many floats and participants. Parades are often held in the mid-late morning (before get-togethers), with longer spectacles sometimes extending into the early afternoon. Fireworks displays typically occur in the evening, at such places as parks, harbors, off of boats, sporting venues, fairgrounds, public shorelines, or town squares.[citation needed] Decorations (e.g., streamers, balloons, and clothing) are generally colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag, and many homes and businesses will decorate their properties with miniature American flags.
The night before the Fourth was once the focal point of celebrations, marked by raucous gatherings, often incorporating
Independence Day
Firework shows are held in many states,
A salute of one gun for each state in the United States, called a "salute to the union", is fired on Independence Day at noon by any capable military base.[32]
New York City has the largest fireworks display in the country sponsored by
During the annual Windsor–Detroit International Freedom Festival, Detroit, Michigan, hosts one of the largest fireworks displays in North America, over the Detroit River, to celebrate Independence Day in conjunction with Windsor, Ontario's celebration of Canada Day.[35]
The first week of July is typically one of the busiest United States travel periods of the year, as many people use what is often a three-day holiday weekend for extended vacation trips.[36]
Celebration gallery
-
Patriotic trailer shown in theaters celebrating July 4, 1940
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Fireworks over theU.S. Capitol and is televised on the American public television network PBS.
-
In addition to a fireworks show, Miami, Florida, lights one of its tallest buildings with the patriotic red, white and blue color scheme on Independence Day.
-
New York City's fireworks display, shown above over the East Village, is sponsored by Macy's and is the largest[33] in the country.
-
Towns of all sizes hold celebrations. Shown here is a fireworks display in America's most eastern town, Lubec, Maine, population 1,300. Canada is across the channel to the right.
-
A festively decorated Independence Day cake
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Fireworks in Narberth, Pennsylvania.
Notable celebrations
- Held since 1785, the Bristol Fourth of July Parade in Bristol, Rhode Island, is the oldest continuous Independence Day celebration in the United States.[37]
- Since 1868, Seward, Nebraska, has held a celebration on the same town square. In 1979 Seward was designated "America's Official Fourth of July City-Small Town USA" by resolution of Congress. Seward has also been proclaimed "Nebraska's Official Fourth of July City" by Governor J. James Exon in proclamation. Seward is a town of 6,000 but swells to 40,000+ during the July 4 celebrations.[38]
- Since 1912, the Rebild Society, a Danish-American friendship organization, has held a July 4 weekend festival that serves as a homecoming for Danish-Americans in the
- Since 1959, the International Freedom Festival is jointly held in Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, during the last week of June each year as a mutual celebration of Independence Day and Canada Day (July 1). It culminates in a large fireworks display over the Detroit River.
- The famous WNBC-TV since 1976. In 2009, the fireworks display was returned to the Hudson River for the first time since 2000 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of that river.[40]
- The A&E, and since 2002 by CBS and its Boston station WBZ-TV. WBZ/1030 and WBZ-TV broadcast the entire event locally, and from 2002 through 2012, CBS broadcast the final hour of the concert nationally in primetime. The national broadcast was put on hiatus beginning in 2013, which Pops executive producer David G. Mugar believed was the result of decreasing viewership caused by NBC's encore presentation of the Macy's fireworks.[42][43] The national broadcast was revived for 2016, and expanded to two hours.[44] In 2017, Bloomberg Television took over coverage duty, with WHDH carrying local coverage beginning in 2018.[45]
- On the PBS, NPR and the American Forces Network, precedes the fireworks and attracts over half a million people annually.[46]
Other countries
The
Rebild National Park in Denmark is said to hold the largest July 4 celebrations outside of the United States.[48]
While not an Independence Day celebration by any means, the city of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada celebrates its founding every July 4, having been founded on July 4, 1634.[49] Trois-Rivières was also the site of the final battle of the American Revolutionary War that was fought on Quebec soil in June 1776[50], the Battle of Trois-Rivières, which was also a part of the Continental Army’s failed American Invasion of Quebec. Following a defeat at the hands of the British, the Continental Army retreated to Fort Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, and then to Fort Ticonderoga in Ticonderoga, New York, before permanently ceasing their invasion of Quebec in July 1776.[51]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes the public holidays . . . for Federal employees. Please note that most Federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule. For these employees, when a holiday falls on a nonworkday -- Saturday or Sunday -- the holiday usually is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday)." "Federal Holidays". U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
References
- ^ a b "What is Independence Day in USA?". Tech Notes. July 2, 2015. Archived from the original on June 22, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
- ^ a b Hernández, Javier C. (July 3, 2022). "Amid Ukraine War, Orchestras Rethink '1812 Overture,' a July 4 Rite - Some ensembles have decided not to perform Tchaikovsky's overture, written as commemoration of Russia's defeat of Napoleon's army". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
- ^ "National Days of Countries". Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. New Zealand. Archived from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
- ^ Central Intelligence Agency. "National Holiday". The World Factbook. Archived from the original on May 13, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
- ^ "National Holiday of Member States". United Nations. Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
- ^ Becker, p. 3.
- ^ Staff writer (July 1, 1917). "How Declaration of Independence was Drafted" (PDF). The New York Times. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
On the following day, when the formal vote of Congress was taken, the resolutions were approved by twelve Colonies–all except New York. The original Colonies, therefore, became the United States of America on July 2, 1776.
- ^ "Visit the Declaration House", National Park Service official website
- ^ "Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776, 'Had a Declaration…'". Adams Family Papers. Massachusetts Historical Society. Archived from the original on August 6, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
- ^ Maier, Pauline (August 7, 1997). "Making Sense of the Fourth of July". American Heritage. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
- ISBN 978-1104991852.
- JSTOR 1921451.
- ^ "Top 5 Myths About the Fourth of July!". History News Network. George Mason University. June 30, 2001. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
- ^ Becker, pp. 184–85.
- ^ For the minority scholarly argument that the Declaration was signed on July 4, see Wilfred J. Ritz, "The Authentication of the Engrossed Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776" Archived August 18, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Law and History Review 4, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 179–204, via JSTOR.
- ISBN 978-0679645368.
- ^ "James Monroe – U.S. Presidents". HISTORY.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
- ^ Klein, Christopher (July 1, 2015). "8 Famous Figures Born on the Fourth of July". HISTORY.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
- ^ a b c Heintze, "A Chronology of Notable Fourth of July Celebration Occurrences".
- ^ Heintze, "The First Celebrations".
- ^ Eiland, Murray (2019). "Heraldry on American Patriotic Postcards". The Armiger's News. 41 (1): 1–3 – via academia.edu.
- ^ Graff, Michael (November 2012). "Time Stands Still in Old Salem". Our State. Archived from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
- ^ Heintze, "How the Fourth of July was Designated as an 'Official' Holiday".
- ^ Heintze, "Federal Legislation Establishing the Fourth of July Holiday".
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Archivedfrom the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
- ^ "Fourth of July no picnic for the nation's environment". Oak Ridge National Laboratory. July 3, 2003. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
July 4 is by far the most popular day of the year for cookouts, according to a Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association survey that found that 76 percent of the nation's grill owners use at least one of their grills that day.
- ^ "The Night Before the Fourth". The Atlantic. July 1, 2011. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ Newell, Shane (July 2, 2018). "Here's how they pick music for a good Fourth of July fireworks show". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
Jim Souza, president of the Rialto-based Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, said ... 'Everybody wants patriotic music.'
- ^ Gore, Leada (July 3, 2022). "July 4th: Holiday history, more; Why do we celebrate Independence Day with fireworks?". AL.com. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
- ^ Hall, Andy (July 1, 2022). "Which US cities have canceled July 4th fireworks due to fire concerns?". El País. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
- ^ Bryant, Kelly (May 19, 2021). "These Are the States Where Fireworks Are Legal". Reader's Digest.
- Center of Military History. October 3, 2003. Archived from the originalon June 19, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
- ^ a b Biggest fireworks show in U.S. lights up sky Archived July 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, USA Today, July 2009.
- ^ Nelson, Samanta (July 1, 2016). "10 of the nation's Best 4th of July Firework Shows". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
- ^ Newman, Stacy. "Freedom Festival". Encyclopedia of Detroit. Detroit Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
- ^ "AAA Chicago Projects Increase in Fourth of July Holiday Travelers" Archived October 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, PR Newswire, June 23, 2010
- ^ "Founder of America's Oldest Fourth of July Celebration". First Congregational Church. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ^ "History of Seward Nebraska 4th of July". Archived from the original on July 13, 2011.
- ^ "History". Rebild Society. Rebild National Park Society. Archived from the original on July 1, 2009. Retrieved June 30, 2009.
- Federated Department Stores. April 29, 2009. Archived from the originalon August 25, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
- ^ "Welcome to Boston's 4th of July Celebration". Boston 4 Celebrations Foundation. 2009. Archived from the original on August 22, 2008. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
- ^ James H. Burnett III. Boston gets a nonreality show: CBS broadcasts impossible views of 4th fireworks Archived April 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Boston Globe, July 8, 2011
- ^ Powers, Martine; Moskowitz, Eric (June 15, 2013). "July 4 fireworks gala loses its national pop". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
- ^ "With CBS on board again, Keith Lockhart is ready to take over prime time". Boston Herald. July 2016. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
- ^ "7News partners with Bloomberg TV to air 2018 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular". WHDH. June 21, 2018. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ A Capitol Fourth – The Concert Archived February 20, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, PBS, accessed July 12, 2013
- ^ Philippine Republic Day, Official Gazette (Philippines), archived from the original on July 29, 2021, retrieved July 5, 2012
- ^ Lindsey Galloway (July 3, 2012). "Celebrate American independence in Denmark". Archived from the original on November 15, 2014.
- ^ ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Aucun thème sélectionné- (July 4, 2009). "Bonne fête Trois-Rivières!". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). Retrieved April 20, 2024.
- ^ [https://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/760608-three-rivers/ "The Battle of Three Rivers (Trois-Rivi�res)"]. www.myrevolutionarywar.com. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
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at position 39 (help) - ^ Troy, Michael. "Episode 095: Battle of Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers)". Retrieved April 20, 2024.
Further reading
- OCLC 2234953.
- Criblez, Adam (2013). Parading Patriotism: Independence Day Celebrations in the Urban Midwest, 1826–1876. DeKalb, IL, US: Northern Illinois University Press. OCLC 1127286749.
- Heintze, James R. "Fourth of July Celebrations Database". American University of Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on August 15, 2000. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
External links
- Fourth of July Is Independence Day USA.gov, July 4, 2014
- U.S. Independence Day a Civic and Social Event U.S. State Department, June 22, 2010
- Fourth of July Orations Collection at the Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books, Ellis Library, University of Missouri