Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is the national holiday of the United States. It celebrates the day in 1776 when the country declared its independence from Great Britain. Most Americans call it Independence Day. People mark it with fireworks, parades, picnics, and the colors red, white, and blue.

In the summer of 1776, the thirteen American colonies were already at war with Britain. Leaders from each colony met in Philadelphia to decide what to do next. They asked Thomas Jefferson to write a letter explaining why they wanted to break away. The letter was called the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1776, the leaders approved the final wording. That date got printed at the top of the document, and it stuck.

Interestingly, July 4 is not really the day America became independent. The vote to break from Britain happened on July 2. John Adams thought July 2 would be the day Americans celebrated forever. He was off by two days. Most signers did not even sign the Declaration until August. The war for independence then dragged on until 1783.

The first Fourth of July parties happened in 1777, while the war was still going on. People in Philadelphia fired cannons, rang bells, and lit bonfires. Fireworks were already part of the celebration that very first year. Congress made the Fourth a federal holiday in 1870, almost one hundred years after the original event.

Today the holiday looks similar across the country. Towns hold morning parades with marching bands and old fire trucks. Families grill hot dogs and hamburgers in backyards or parks. Baseball games are played in the afternoon. After dark, cities and towns set off fireworks over rivers, lakes, and ballparks. The biggest show is usually in New York City, where more than 75,000 fireworks light up the sky in about 25 minutes.

Some traditions are a little stranger. Every July 4 in Coney Island, New York, contestants race to eat as many hot dogs as they can in ten minutes. The record is 76 hot dogs and buns, set by Joey Chestnut in 2021. That is more than seven hot dogs per minute.

Independence Day means different things to different Americans. For many, it is a celebration of freedom and the country's founding ideas. For others, including descendants of enslaved people and Native Americans, the date raises harder questions about who was actually free in 1776. Both feelings can share the same holiday, and often do.