Fourth Of July In USA: Facts And History Of American Independence Day

The Fourth of July is celebrated as the Independence day of the United States of America every year. It signifies the birth of the USA as an independent nation. US President Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in June, 1776. The continental congress decided to declare independence on 2 July 1776. Finally, 4 July was the date when the continental congress agreed on all the edits and changes and approved of all the final wordings of the declaration of independence.

On the other hand, 17 September is celebrated as the Constitution Day, as the anniversary of the date the constitution was signed. However, the date of 4 July did not gain much recognition until the late nineteenth century. After the war of 1812, the political parties came to a mutual agreement as they accepted the version of the Declaration prepared by Jefferson to be legitimate.

They began to print copies of the Declaration and started circulating those. Finally, almost after 100 years of the Declaration was written, Congress declared 4 July as a national holiday in 1870.

However, there are a few little-known facts about this national holiday that most often go unnoticed. They are as follows:

• The evening of 4 July 1776, was celebrated with fireworks, the way it is commemorated now.
• Massachusetts was the first state to recognise this day as an official holiday for the federal employees.
• The first annual 4 July celebration was held in Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1785.
• Almost 150000 firework celebrations could be witnessed now across the USA on 4 July each year.
• The shortest 4 July parade takes place in Aptos, California. It covers just two city blocks and measures just 0.6 miles.
• The American composer John Philip Sousa wrote the most number of 4 July marching songs (135) in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
• Three American presidents passed away on 4 July and one American president was born on this day.

Image Courtesy: Popsugar