History & Celebrations Today – July 4

Celebrations Today – July 4

Holidays and observances

Celebrations Today – USA: July 4

Independence Day (USA)
National Barbecued Spareribs Day
National Caesar Salad Day
Alice in Wonderland Day
National Independence Day
National Independence From Meat Day
National Indivisible Day
National Invisible Day
National Barbecue Day
National Country Music Day
National Sidewalk Egg Frying Day

Today in US History: July 4

Independence Day

Fireworks
World’s Fair Fireworks IV,
Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc., photographer, 1939 or 1940.
Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner, 1935-1955

Declaration
Unanimous Declaration of Independence, Passed in the United States Congress,
United States: s.n., 1823.
An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera

Fireworks
World’s Fair Fireworks,
Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc., photographer, 1939 or 1940.
Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner, 1935-1955

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britain. The Constitution provides the legal and governmental framework for the United States, however, the Declaration, with its eloquent assertion “all Men are created equal,” is equally beloved by the American people.

sheet music cover
Hurrah for the U S A,
words and music by W. E. Howard, 1915.
Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920

Philadelphians marked the first anniversary of American independence with a spontaneous celebration, which is described in a letter by John Adams to Abigail Adams. However, observing Independence Day only became commonplace after the War of 1812. Soon, events such as groundbreaking ceremonies for the Erie Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad were scheduled to coincide with July 4th festivities.

In 1859, the Banneker Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, urged African Americans to celebrate Independence Day while bearing witness to the inconsistencies between the ideals espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the practice of slavery. Banneker’s orator of the day, Mr. Jacob C. White Jr., also promised his audience a brighter future:

We have learned by experience and by the comparison of ourselves with people similarly situated, to hope that, at some day not very far in futurity, our grievances will be redressed, that our long lost rights will be restored to us, and that, in the full stature of men, we will stand up, and with our once cruel opponents and oppressors rejoice in the Declaration of our common country, and hail with them the approach of the glorious natal day of the Great Republic.Mr. Jacob C. White Jr., Introductory Remarks,
The Celebration of the Eighty-Third Anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence
Banneker Institute, July 4, 1859.
African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907

By the 1870s, the Fourth of July was the most important secular holiday on the calendar. Congress passed a law making Independence Day a federal holiday on June 28, 1870. Even far-flung communities on the western frontier managed to congregate on Independence Day. In an American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940 interview, Miss Nettie Spencer remembered the Fourth as the “big event of the year. Everyone in the countryside got together on that day for the only time in the year.” She continued,

There would be floats in the morning and the one that got the [girls?] eye was the Goddess of Liberty. She was supposed to be the most wholesome and prettiest girl in the countryside — if she wasn’t she had friends who thought she was. But the rest of us weren’t always in agreement on that…Following the float would be the Oregon Agricultural College cadets, and some kind of a band. Sometimes there would be political effigies.

Just before lunch – and we’d always hold lunch up for an hour – some Senator or lawyer would speak. These speeches always had one pattern. First the speaker would challenge England to a fight and berate the King and say that he was a skunk. This was known as twisting the lion’s tail. Then the next theme was that any one could find freedom and liberty on our shores. The speaker would invite those who were heavy laden in other lands to come to us and find peace. The speeches were pretty fiery and by that time the men who drank got into fights and called each other Englishmen. In the afternoon we had what we called the ‘plug uglies’ — funny floats and clowns who took off on the political subjects of the day…The Fourth was the day of the year that really counted then. Christmas wasn’t much; a Church tree or something, but no one twisted the lion’s tail.
Rural Life in the 1870s,”
Portland, Oregon,
Walker Winslow, interviewer, December 15, 1938.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940

Equal Rights,”
Fourth of July Oration,
by Governor Calvin Coolidge,
ca. 1920.
American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election

Real Audio Format

wav Format, 2488 Kb

The Stars and Stripes Forever March,”
by J. P. Sousa,
Imperial Marimba Band,
1918.
Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies

Down South the celebration was much the same. Ninety-six-year-old Dr. Samuel B. Lathan recalled the Independence Day celebrations of his South Carolina childhood:

The Fourth of July was observed at Caldwell Cross Roads. The military companies of infantry would assembly here from the surrounding counties making up a brigade. A drill and inspection were had, and a dress parade followed. There was an old cannon mounted on the field. The honor of firing it was assigned to Hugh Reed, who had been in the artillery of Napoleon’s army at Waterloo and afterward emigrated to South Carolina. A great barbecue and picnic dinner would be served; candidates for military, state, and national offices would speak; hard liquor would flow; and each section would present its ‘bully of the woods’ in a contest for champion in a fist and skull fight. Butting, biting, eye gouging, kicking, and blows below the belt were barred. It was primitive prize fighting.”Dr. Samuel B. Lathan,”
Winnboro, South Carolina,
W. W. Dixon, interviewer,
ca. 1940.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945

Wrestling matches
Wrestling Matches,
July 4th celebration, Ashville, Ohio,
Ben Shahn, photographer, 1941.

Boy on float in Fourth of July parade.
Boy on Float,
Fourth of July Parade
,
Vale, Oregon,
Russell Lee, photographer, 1941.

greased pig
Watching Greased Pig Race,
on the Fourth of July, Vale, Oregon,
Russell Lee, photographer, 1941.

Use the online resources of the Library of Congress to learn more about Independence Day:

Today in History – July 4-External Links

Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia