Independence Day
Independence Day, celebrated annually on July 4th, marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which signified the American colonies' formal break from Great Britain. The document, primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson, outlined the philosophical principles of natural rights and justifications for independence, asserting that all individuals are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Tensions leading up to this declaration were fueled by British taxation and governance, culminating in events like the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, which galvanized colonial resistance.
The Continental Congress, responding to growing discontent, voted for independence on July 2, 1776, and after a brief debate, ratified the Declaration two days later. The first public reading of the Declaration took place in Philadelphia, inspiring celebrations that eventually evolved into the modern observance of Independence Day. Over the years, July 4th has become synonymous with parades, fireworks, and various festivities across the United States. Despite its historical significance, the day also invites reflection on the diverse perspectives surrounding issues of freedom and governance, highlighting the complexity of the nation's history.
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Independence Day
Declaring independence from Great Britain was something of a last resort for the Americans. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote in June 1775 that “I am sincerely one of those . . . who would rather be in dependence on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any other nation on earth, or than on no nation.”
After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, relations between the American colonies and Great Britain soured. The British government, in severe financial distress as a result of wartime military expenditures, sought to streamline its colonial administration and increase tax revenue from the colonies. In particular, King George III and his ministers wanted the colonists to pay for some part of their own defense. Many Americans, however, objected to the new British taxes. Measures such as the Stamp Act of 1765 drew especially strong opposition. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, but the Townshend Acts of 1767 levied new taxes. Merchants retaliated by boycotting British imports, and by 1770 all of the Townshend duties had been repealed except for the tax on tea.
Great Britain sent troops to maintain order in the colonies, but clashes between the colonists and British soldiers erupted. In 1770, the Boston Massacre took place when British soldiers fired into an angry mob. Attempts at reconciliation were made, but colonial discontent continued to grow. In 1773, opposition to the tea tax and to the tea monopoly of the British East India Company led a group of colonials to stage the famous Boston Tea Party. In order to punish the rebellious colonists, Parliament passed the “Coercive” or “Intolerable” Acts of 1774, which authorized the closing of Boston harbor and prohibited town meetings without the governor's consent.
On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The congress condemned the Coercive Acts, denounced Britain's imposition of taxes, and adopted a declaration of rights, which included the rights of “life, liberty and property.” The bloodshed at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill in Massachusetts during 1775, together with the king's proclamation of August 23, 1775, stating that the Americans were in rebellion, further weakened the bonds between Great Britain and the colonies. By 1776, many of the colonists were ready to accept the inflammatory rhetoric of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, with its description of King George as the “royal brute” and its call for an end to his reign in the New World.
In the spring of 1776, the movement for independence continued to advance. On April 12, 1776, the North Carolina convention instructed its delegates to the Second Continental Congress, then meeting in Philadelphia, to vote for independence. In turn, the Virginia convention, which met in Williamsburg, Virginia, on May 15, directed its delegates to ask the congress to “declare the United Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence on the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain.” On the same day the Continental Congress, at the suggestion of John Adams, recommended that the various colonies assume all the powers of government.
Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, brought the question of independence before the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. With John Adams's support, Lee made the following motion: “Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” In subsequent debate moderate representatives persuaded their colleagues to delay a final vote for three weeks. In the meantime, however, “that no time be lost, in case the Congress agree thereto,” John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman were appointed to draft a declaration of independence.
On July 1, 1776, the congress resumed debate on the Lee resolution and approved it the following day. On July 2, 1776, congress formally voted for independence. That same day, Jefferson brought his committee's proposed declaration of independence before the delegates, who debated its merits for two days and made certain revisions. The final version was ratified on July 4, 1776. John Hancock, the president of the congress, and Charles Thomson, its secretary, signed the document that same day. On July 9, 1776, the provincial congress of New York ordered its delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who had abstained from voting on July 4, to endorse the document. Thus, on July 19, 1776, the congress resolved to have the “unanimous declaration” written on parchment.
Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, one of the most eloquent as well as one of the youngest of the revolutionary leaders, the Declaration of Independence begins with a preamble, which is an assertion of philosophical principles concerning natural rights. “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America,” as the document was titled, began with these ringing assertions:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds, which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation. We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government.
Many years later, on May 8, 1825, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Richard Henry Lee that his task in drafting the Declaration of Independence had been:
not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, [in] terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we [were] impelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind. . . . All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc.
Specific colonial grievances are set forth in the second section of the Declaration of Independence. Significantly, the authors did not mention Parliament, whose authority over the colonies they challenged, but instead blamed King George III for all of the wrongs. By declaring the monarch the villain and terminating their allegiance to him, the rebels severed what they alleged to be their sole link with the British Empire.
The third and final part of the Declaration of Independence was a reiteration of the Lee resolution, asserting that the colonies were now independent from Great Britain. The document ended with the delegates' statement that “for the support of this Declaration . . . we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.”
The people of Philadelphia were the first to hear the Declaration of Independence. John Nixon, a member of Philadelphia's Committee of Public Safety, read it aloud to them on July 8, 1776, in the yard of the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall). There was great popular exultation and church bells rang long into the night. The militia even used up some of their precious gunpowder to fire volleys in salutes to independence. News of the Declaration of Independence spread throughout the colonies in the weeks and months that followed.
On July 2, 1777, it occurred to an individual (whose name has been lost) in Philadelphia that the first anniversary of independence should be celebrated. Although rather hastily prepared, by all accounts the celebration that day was a success. Thus, for a time it appeared that independence would be celebrated annually on July 2. John Adams, like most of his contemporaries, certainly thought so. “It ought to be commemorated,” Adams wrote, “as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.” Over time, however, July 4 (the anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence) became the more popular day for holding Independence Day celebrations. Today, July 4 is a federal holiday, and festivities are held throughout the country in virtually every major city.
Notable Observances
Over the years following the approval of the Declaration of Independence, July 4 celebrations changed with the times but typically included staple traditions such as parades and firework displays. On the one hundredth anniversary of the holiday, an especially grand event was held in Philadelphia that was marked by the recitation by Bayard Taylor of his poem "National Ode." One hundred years later, in 1976, the country commemorated the bicentennial, with various cities having spent months to coordinate exhibitions and musical performances as well as produce a wide range of memorabilia. In 2019, following a particularly divisive presidential election in 2016, President Donald Trump organized an extravagant "Salute to America" event in the nation's capital that involved a military flyover, tanks, and a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in addition to the customary concert and fireworks.
Bibliography
Shain, Barry Alan, editor. The Declaration of Independence in Historical Context: American State Papers, Petitions, Proclamations, and Letters of the Delegates to the First National Congresses. Yale UP, 2014.
"Today in History—July 4." Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/july-04/. Accessed Apr. 2024.
Tsesis, Alexander. For Liberty and Equality: The Life and Times of the Declaration of Independence. Oxford UP, 2012.
Walrath-Holdridge, Mary. "Feasting, Drinking, and Blowing Things Up: The History of US Independence Day." USA Today, 4 July 2023, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/03/history-of-independence-day-usa/70371383007/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.
Wood, Gordon S. Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Penguin Press, 2017.
Worley, Will. "Fourth of July 2017: What Is It, How Did It Start, and Why Do Americans Celebrate It?" Independent, 3 July 2017, www.independent.co.uk/news/world-0/fourth-of-july-4th-independence-day-why-do-americans-celebrate-it-explained-a7821961.html. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.