 |
Independence Day
is a national holiday in the United States that is observed annually on July
4th. On July 4, 1776, we claimed our independence from England and Democracy
was born.
Independence Day is regarded as the
birthday of the United States as a free and independent nation. Most
Americans simply call it the "Fourth of July," on which date it always
falls. |
Every day thousands leave their homeland to
come to the "land of the free and the home of the brave" so they can begin their
American Dream.
With this remarkable Declaration of Rights, the Second
Continental Congress made the Declaration of Independence the "first formal
pronouncement by an organized body of people of the right to government by
choice" and severed colonial ties with England. Members of the Congress adopted
Thomas Jefferson's declaration on July 4, 1776, and this date became the
birthday of the United States of America.
Independence Day was first celebrated on July 8, 1776 when the Declaration of
Independence was read to the public. By the 1880's, the Fourth of July had
become the most significant patriotic occasion in the United States. Congress
declared the day a federal legal holiday in 1941. The holiday is presently
celebrated with parades, fireworks, picnics, sporting events, and music,
including the "Star-Spangled Banner" and several marches of John Philip Sousa.
Thus, Independence Day is also known as the
Fourth of July.
"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive
of these ends (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), it is the right of
the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government." - Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826), from the Declaration of Independence
Only four American holidays are still celebrated on their proper
calendar days: Halloween, Christmas, New Year's and Independence Day. Of all the
secular holidays, the Fourth of July is the only one whose celebration date
resists change. Even in more provincial times, suggestions to alter the day of
the festival to the preceding Saturday or the following Monday when July 4th
fell on Sunday were protested.
|
