Historic Happenings: Independence day
Happy Forth of July everyone!!!
We may celebrate the Forth, but there were a lot of other important dates before and after that, involving our countries independence.
New Englanders had been fighting Britain since April 1775. The first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made on June 4, 1776. After hard debate, the Congress voted unanimously, but secretly, for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 2. The Congress reworked the text of the Declaration until a little after eleven o’clock, July 4, when the twelve colonies voted for adoption and released a copy signed only by John Hancock, President of the Congress, to the printers. (The New York delegation abstained from both votes.)
Philadelphia celebrated the Declaration with public readings and bonfires on July 8. Not until August 2 would a fair printing be signed by the members of the Congress, but even that was kept secret to protect the members from British reprisals.
But it was on July 4th that Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the street about secret votes. And that is why we celebrate on the 4th of July.
Honoring the Day
In 1777, Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary with an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white and blue bunting. All familiar traditions we still carry out today.
In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day a holiday, albeit unpaid, for federal employees. But in 1941, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day a federal paid holiday.
So don we now our patriotic apparel, as we enjoy a day of relaxing, barbequeing, and of course, FIREWORKS! (let’s just hope the weather clears up around here).
And a reminder for this evening’s activities, see America’s Birthday: Philly Style or visit Phillyfunguide.com or the official Welcome America site. And tune into 6ABC for full live coverage of tonights celebration.
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