According to the World Almanac (1998), most states observe the federal legal public holiday. The first “official” state celebration of the Fourth of July as recognized under resolve of a legislature occurred in Massachusetts in 1781. Boston was the first municipality to officially designate July Fourth as a holiday in 1783.
Alexander Martin of North Carolina was the first governor to issue a state order (in 1781) for celebrating the independence of the country on the Fourth of July. Other governors followed the practice as the years continued. By 1870, the first federal legislation was passed giving federal employees a “day off” from work, but without pay.
It should be noted that the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776. That is when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author.
Similar to actions of today’s Congress, the Declaration was revised and finally approved on July 4. A day earlier John Adams wrote his wife Abigail that the Second Day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
Strange Coincidences
- A few coincidences connected with the day the United States was officially born:
- Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signers of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as Presidents of the United States, died on the same day, July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
- Other similar coincidences include James Monroe, although not a signer of the Declaration, was the fifth president of the United States. He died on July 4, 1831.
- Calvin Coolidge, the Thirteenth President, was born on July 4, 1872, and the only President to be born on Independence Day.
Celebrations of the forming of this land we continue to call United States of America were varied over the years.
- 1777, thirteen gunshots were fired, once at morning and again as evening fell, on July 4 in Bristol, Rhode Island.
- Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary in a manner a modern American would find quite familiar; 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.
- In 1778, General George Washington marked July 4 with a double ration of rum for his soldiers and an artillery salute. Across the Atlantic Ocean, Ambassadors John Adams and Benjamin Franklin held a dinner for their fellow Americans in Paris, France.
- In 1779, July 4 fell on a Sunday. The holiday was celebrated on Monday, July 5th.
- In 1781, the Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize July 4 as a state celebration.
- In 1783, Moravians in Salem, North Carolina, held a celebration of July 4 with a challenging music program assembled by Johann Fredrich Peter. This work was titled, “The Psalm of Joy.”
- In 1791 the first recorded use of the name “Independence Day” occurred.
- In 1820 the first Fourth of July celebration was held in Eastport, Maine which remains the largest in the state.
- In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.
- In 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.
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