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Fourth of July - America's Birthday
The Fourth of July is celebrated as Independence Day in the USA. For genealogists, the birthday of a nation can be as much fun as the birthday of an ancestor!
As with anything done by government, the signing of the Declaration didn't just "happen". Furious over the "taxation without representation", colonists were determined not to keep paying high costs to England with little to show in return.
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia actually introduced the resolution to detach the US from Britain on June 7, 1776, after much discussion with other like-minded patriots. In what was actually a show of speed, the resolution was approved on July 2, 1776, and the document written by Thomas Jefferson was then approved on July 4th. Only 2 days later, the document was being published in many local papers.
Then it was a matter of getting everyone to actually SIGN the Declaration of Independence. Throughout the month of July the signers were tracked down, with the last one going on in 1781.
July 4th was heralded as the official date of the document, though, and even in 1777, just one year later, praise was being sung to its power and strength. Philadelphia had fireworks, bonfires and band music to celebrate, and that tradition has gone strong ever since!
July 4th was declared a legal federal holiday in 1941.
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