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-- Programs and Services -- Contact Information Why we celebrate July 4th
Independence Day is the celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It was written by Thomas Jefferson and signed by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. This statement started the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation.
The original 13 colonies were Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, and Virginia. Massachusetts signers of the Declaration were John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Treat Paine, and Elbridge Gerry.
Independence Day was first observed in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776. In 1941, Congress declared July 4 a federal legal holiday.
Two former U.S. Presidents, who were original signers of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both died on July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the signing. Another former President, John Monroe, also died on July 4, five years later.
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell was rung July 8, 1776 to announce the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. This bell has had quite a history.
On November 1, 1751, a bell was ordered from the Whitechapel Foundry in England with the intention it should hang in the State House steeple, now Independence Hall.
On September 2, 1752, the bell arrived and on March 10, 1753 in was hung. It cracked while the sound was being tested. The break was believed to be cause by flaws in the casting.
The cracked bell was melted down and recast by the local Philadelphia foundry. An ounce and a half to a pound of copper was added in an attempt to make the new bell less brittle. The tone of this bell was not liked and so it was again melted down and recast.
In June 1753 the bell was hung again, but the tone was still not acceptable. A new bell was ordered from England. After it arrived, it was agreed that it sounded no better than the last. The previous bell was left in the steeple and the new bell was placed in the cupola on the State House roof and attached to the clock to sound the hours.
When this bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, cracked is a much debated question...and a story with many renditions.
There are stories stating that the Liberty Bell cracked while pealing for George Washington’s birthday on February 22, 1832; however, there is no support for this claim. According to newspaper accounts at the time, the State House bell was tolled on November 14 of that year to announce the death of the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll. Also, two years later, an article in Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser appeared on July 22, 1834, stating that the bell was tolled for the news of the death of the Marquis de Lafayette. It couldn’t have tolled then had it been cracked in February 1832.
Flag Facts
Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. It is not clear who actually designed it, but the experts at the Betsy Ross House suggest it was Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The flag has 13 stripes representing the original 13 colonies (7 red and 6 white). In the upper left corner is a navy blue field with 50 white stars that represents the states.
There is no record stating why red, white, and blue where chosen for the flag. However, when the Great Seal of the United States was chosen this is what was listed for them: white for purity and innocence, red for valor and hardiness, and blue for vigilance, perseverance, and justice,
Folktales say that George Washington interpreted the flag this way: The stars were taken from the sky, the red from the British colors, and the white stripes signified the secession from the home country.
The U. S. imported $51.7 million worth of flags in 2001, the bulk of them after 9/11.