John Trumbull's depiction of July 4, 1776
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- Also called:
- Fourth of July or July 4th
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Top Questions
When is Independence Day in the United States?
When is Independence Day in the United States?
Independence Day is celebrated in the United States on July 4. Often the holiday is called the Fourth of July.
What is the Fourth of July?
What is the Fourth of July?
The Fourth of July celebrates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Declaration announced the political separation of the 13 North American colonies from Great Britain.
Why is the Fourth of July celebrated with fireworks?
Why is the Fourth of July celebrated with fireworks?
In Fourth of July celebrations, fireworks signify national pride and patriotism. They had been used in China since at least the 12th century, and in the 15th century they became popular with European monarchs as a way to celebrate national triumphs, the restoration of peace, and the monarchs’ own birthdays. Fireworks have been part of Independence Day in the United States since its first celebration, in 1777.
Why did the North American colonies declare independence?
Why did the North American colonies declare independence?
The Declaration of Independence, passed on July 4, 1776, reflected widespread dissatisfaction in the colonies with increased British control. Colonists especially opposed a series of unpopular laws and taxes enacted by Britain beginning in 1764, including the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the so-called Intolerable Acts.
Should election day be made a national holiday like Independence Day?
Should election day be made a national holiday like Independence Day?
Whether election day should be made a national holiday like Independence Day is debated. Some say a holiday would increase voter turnout by enabling more people to vote while celebrating democracy. Others say a holiday would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers and corporations should have better policies for voting time off. For more on the debate about making election day a national holiday, visit ProCon.org.
Independence Day, in the United States, the annual celebration of nationhood. It commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
The Congress had voted in favour of independence from Great Britain on July 2 but did not actually complete the process of revising the Declaration of Independence, originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson in consultation with fellow committee members John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and William Livingston, until two days later. The celebration was initially modeled on that of the king’s birthday, which had been marked annually by bell ringing, bonfires, solemn processions, and oratory. Such festivals had long played a significant role in the Anglo-American political tradition. Especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, when dynastic and religious controversies racked the British Empire (and much of the rest of Europe), the choice of which anniversaries of historic events were celebrated and which were lamented had clear political meanings. The ritual of toasting the king and other patriot-heroes—or of criticizing them—became an informal kind of political speech, further formalized in mid-18th century when the toasts given at taverns and banquets began to be reprinted in newspapers.
More From BritannicaWhy Do Americans Celebrate the Fourth of July with Fireworks?In the early stages of the revolutionary movement in the colonies during the 1760s and early ’70s, patriots used such celebrations to proclaim their resistance to Parliament’s legislation while lauding King George III as the real defender of English liberties. However, the marking of the first days of independence during the summer of 1776 actually took the form in many towns of a mock funeral for the king, whose “death” symbolized the end of monarchy and tyranny and the rebirth of liberty.
During the early years of the republic, Independence Day was commemorated with parades, oratory, and toasting in ceremonies that celebrated the existence of the new nation. These rites played an equally important role in the evolving federal political system. With the rise of informal political parties, they provided venues for leaders and constituents to tie local and national contests to independence and the issues facing the national polity. By the mid-1790s the two nascent political parties held separate partisan Independence Day festivals in most larger towns. Perhaps for this reason, Independence Day became the model for a series of (often short-lived) celebrations that sometimes contained more explicit political resonance, such as George Washington’s birthday and the anniversary of Jefferson’s inauguration while he served as president (1801–09).
The bombastic torrent of words that characterized Independence Day during the 19th century made it both a serious occasion and one sometimes open to ridicule—like the increasingly popular and democratic political process itself in that period. With the growth and diversification of American society, the Fourth of July commemoration became a patriotic tradition which many groups—not just political parties—sought to claim. Abolitionists, women’s rights advocates, the temperance movement, and opponents of immigration (nativists) all seized the day and its observance, in the process often declaring that they could not celebrate with the entire community while an un-American perversion of their rights prevailed.
With the rise of leisure, the Fourth of July emerged as a major midsummer holiday. The prevalence of heavy drinking and the many injuries caused by setting off fireworks prompted reformers of the late 19th and the early 20th century to mount a Safe and Sane Fourth of July movement. During the later 20th century, although it remained a national holiday marked by parades, concerts of patriotic music, and fireworks displays, Independence Day declined in importance as a venue for politics. It remains a potent symbol of national power and of specifically American qualities—even the freedom to stay at home and barbecue.
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David L. Waldstreicher
