Skip to main content

4TH







It's Independence Day

History of the 4th from the History Channel

The Fourth of July – also known as Independence Day or July 4th – 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. On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 to the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.

Contents
A History of Independence Day
Early Fourth of July Celebrations
Fourth of July Becomes a Federal Holiday
A History of Independence Day
When the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered radical.

By the middle of the following year, however, many more colonists had come to favor independence, thanks to growing hostility against Britain and the spread of revolutionary sentiments such as those expressed in the bestselling pamphlet “Common Sense,” published by Thomas Paine in early 1776.

On June 7, when the Continental Congress met at the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, the Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a motion calling for the colonies’ independence.

Amid heated debate, Congress postponed the vote on Lee’s resolution, but appointed a five-man committee – including Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York – to draft a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain.

Did You Know?
John Adams believed that July 2nd was the correct date on which to celebrate the birth of American independence, and would reportedly turn down invitations to appear at July 4th events in protest. Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826—the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s resolution for independence in a near-unanimous vote (the New York delegation abstained, but later voted affirmatively). On that day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”

On July 4th, the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, which had been written largely by Jefferson. Though the vote for actual independence took place on July 2nd, from then on the 4th became the day that was celebrated as the birth of American independence.

Early Fourth of July Celebrations
In the pre-Revolutionary years, colonists had held annual celebrations of the king’s birthday, which traditionally included the ringing of bells, bonfires, processions and speechmaking. By contrast, during the summer of 1776 some colonists celebrated the birth of independence by holding mock funerals for King George III, as a way of symbolizing the end of the monarchy’s hold on America and the triumph of liberty.

Festivities including concerts, bonfires, parades and the firing of cannons and muskets usually accompanied the first public readings of the Declaration of Independence, beginning immediately after its adoption. Philadelphia held the first annual commemoration of independence on July 4, 1777, while Congress was still occupied with the ongoing war.

George Washington issued double rations of rum to all his soldiers to mark the anniversary of independence in 1778, and in 1781, several months before the key American victory at Yorktown, Massachusetts became the first state to make July 4th an official state holiday.

After the Revolutionary War, Americans continued to commemorate Independence Day every year, in celebrations that allowed the new nation’s emerging political leaders to address citizens and create a feeling of unity. By the last decade of the 18th century, the two major political parties – the Federalist Party and Democratic-Republicans – that had arisen began holding separate Fourth of July celebrations in many large cities.

Fourth of July Becomes a Federal Holiday
The tradition of patriotic celebration became even more widespread after the War of 1812, in which the United States again faced Great Britain. In 1870, the U.S. Congress made July 4th a federal holiday; in 1941, the provision was expanded to grant a paid holiday to all federal employees.

Over the years, the political importance of the holiday would decline, but Independence Day remained an important national holiday and a symbol of patriotism.

Falling in mid-summer, the Fourth of July has since the late 19th century become a major focus of leisure activities and a common occasion for family get-togethers, often involving fireworks and outdoor barbecues. The most common symbol of the holiday is the American flag, and a common musical accompaniment is “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States. 



Comments

  1. Thank you for posting this synopsis of our Freedom!!! not to be taken for granted ever, Happy 4th of July !! Happy sewing from Iowa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so correct, freedom and democracy is something we all need to work hard at keeping. Like a marriage, is not a given it will last a lifetime, it’s something we we each work at. Happy sewing to you too

      Delete
  2. Hope you had a wonderful celebration.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for the history reminders. It was a pretty exciting time in our history.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Welcome friends to share a thought, I enjoy reading them and will try my best to reply back by email most of the time. But if you do not hear back it's because you are a no-reply blogger.

Popular posts from this blog

How to Make a Portable Design Wall

I had wanted to get a portable design wall to take to retreats but did not want to pay the price. Looked at various pins on pinterest and took ideas from more than one to come up with my verison. It worked out great and only cost a fraction of the price. The PVC pipes, joints and 2 yards of felt cost under $22.00 My design wall is 4' x 4' which stands approximately 5 1/5' tall. For this size need 2 - 10ft length of 3/4" PVC pipe for the frame and 4ft of 1" PVC pipe for the feet Cut the 3/4" PVC into 4 - 4' section                                                                                       2 - 1' section              Cut the 1"  PVC into 4 - 1' section          The joints you'll need will be 2 - 3/4" elbows 2 - 3/4" T's 2 - 3/4" to 1" T (this will be the base of the Feet) 4 - 1" elbow Also need pipe cutters (this cost me almost as much

Yarn Along 2/20/13 Spoon Pin Doily

It's snowing here and I know some of you are tired of snow but here we will take the moisture any way we can get it. Plus it just gives me a reason to stay in and work on some of my projects. In this picture I'm not sure if you can make it out but in the background there are some wild turkeys that hang around the house sometime, just  chilling This project I'm working on is Spool Pin Doilies.   I had never heard of them before until Bonnie Hunter had mentioned it on her blog . She a had a viewer send her one for her sewing machine along with a pattern. I did not like the pattern but loved the idea so I decided to make up my own version. I wanted a more simple, smaller and fuller doily. So I tried different thread sizes to get one that I like. (From left to right) I tried sock yarn, which I'll redo because I think I like that look. Heavy weight crochet thread, nope too big Bamboo yarn, I like it. Looks good on my Kenmore. Pearl cott

What's Up

Well that is a big question, what's up Seeing how I haven't posted since before the retreat I went to. So I will show what I did at the retreat and what I have been doing these past few days, which is this Log Cabin Christmas Tree  wall hanging I have the blocks completed and now it just a matter of getting them sewn together. I'll get to that tomorrow. While at the retreat I made this baby quilt top with the disappearing 4-patch block. I had a charm pack and used some "snow" fabric Kaufman snow is one of my favorite whites to use. It's white but not a stark, bright white, goes well with a majority of the fabric I've collected. I started late making my blocks for RCS14 First I wasn't sure what pattern I wanted to make and then with all that was going on the first part of the year, I didn't start until July. One quilt is using a quarter log cabin in solid colors. I made these at the retreat, have the other half t