Independence Day

jwoodovetail

Jul 1, 20212 min read

As a child growing up in Hawaii, the Fourth of July celebration was an event. Family and friends would gather together at Ala Moana Beach park to eat, sing, play and socialize getting ready for the big fireworks display over the ocean in unison with a local radio station playing music in sync with the show. But I didn’t realize back then how important this day is to us and what it meant to be an American.

Independence Day, also called Fourth of July or July 4th, in the United States is the annual celebration of Nationhood. It commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. Independence Day is celebrated on Sunday, July 4th, 2021 in the United States.

The Congress had voted in favor of independence from Great Britain on July 2nd but did not actually complete the process of revising the Declaration of Independence, originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson in consultation with fellow committee members John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and William Livingston, until 2 days later. The celebration was initially modeled on that of the king’s birthday, which had been marked annually by bell ringing, bonfires, solemn processions, and oratory. Such festivals had long played a significant role in the Anglo-American political tradition. Especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, when dynastic and religious controversies racked the British Empire. The choice of which anniversaries of historical events were celebrated and which were lamented had clear political meaning. The ritual of toasting the king and other patriotic heroes or of criticizing them became an informal kind of political speech, further formalized in the mid 18th century when the toasts given at taverns and banquets began to be reprinted in newspapers.

Today with the rise of leisure, the Fourth of July emerged as a major midsummer national holiday marked by parades, concerts, barbeques and fireworks displays, Independence Day declined in importance as a venue for politics. It remains a potent symbol of national power and of specifically American qualities, even the freedom to stay at home and barbecue.