Why do we celebrate Independence Day on July 4? And when did fireworks become a tradition?
July 4, also known as Independence Day, marks the anniversary of the Second Continental Congress adopting the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Congress, made up of delegates from the United States’ original 13 colonies, unanimously approved the document that declared independence from Great Britain. Some Americans began celebrating July 4 the year after the Declaration of Independence was signed. In a letter to his daughter, former President John Adams wrote that July 4, 1777, was celebrated in Philadelphia “with a festivity and ceremony becoming the occasion,” according to the Library of Congress. But July 4 became more widely observed by Americans following the War of 1812. Independence Day became the most important nonreligious holiday for many Americans by the 1870s, and Congress passed a law making Independence Day a federal holiday on June 28, 1870.
At the first July 4 celebration in Philadelphia in 1777, Americans fired a cannon 13 times in honor of the original 13 colonies. Thirteen fireworks were also fired in the city as part of the celebrations. Revelers in Boston set off fireworks in 1777 as well, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Kate Haulman, an associate professor of history at American University, told USA TODAY that fireworks and other festivities fit into a tradition of public celebrations in England, citing Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates a foiled plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Haulman called early Independence Day celebrations “a continuation of earlier kinds of political culture, but made American.” And Americans have continued to celebrate with fireworks and into the 21st century, with sales of fireworks surging in 2020.