"When in the course of human events..."

Taxation without representation! That was the battle cry of the 13 colonies in America who to pay taxes to England's King George III with no representation in Parliament. As dissatisfaction , British troops to quell any signs of rebellion, and repeated attempts by the colonists to the crisis without war fruitless.

On June 11, 1776, the colonies' Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia a committee with the express purpose of drafting a document that would formally their ties with Great Britain. The committee Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. The document by Jefferson, who the strongest and most eloquent writer (nevertheless, a total of 86 changes to his draft). The final version by the Continental Congress on July 4.

The following day, copies of the Declaration of Independence and, on July 6, The Pennsylvania Evening Post the first newspaper to the extraordinary document.

The Declaration of Independence our nation's most cherished symbol of liberty.

Bonfires and Illuminations

On July 8, 1776, the first public readings of the Declaration in Philadelphia's Independence Square to the ringing of bells and band music. One year later, on July 4, 1777, Philadelphia Independence Day by Congress and with bonfires, bells and fireworks.

The custom eventually to other towns both large and small, where the day with processions, oratory, picnics, contests, games, military displays and fireworks. Observations throughout the nation even more common at the end of the War of 1812 with Great Britain.

On June 24, 1826, Thomas Jefferson a letter to Roger C. Weightman, an invitation to come to Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever . In it, Jefferson says of the document:

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be ... the signal of arousing men to burst the chains ... and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ... For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.

Congress Independence Day as a holiday in 1870 and in 1938 Congress it as a holiday, but with full pay for federal employees. Today, communities across the nation this major midsummer holiday with parades, fireworks, picnics and the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner" and marches by John Philip Sousa.

Special Celebrations

Many Fourth of July customs since our earliest celebrations. But some communities across the nation their own special traditions:

• Celebrants in Seward, Alaska, in a six-mile foot race to the top of Mount Marathon and back. Further north in Kotzebue, Alaska, traditional Inuit contests .
• The citizens of Lititz, Pennsylvania, their winters since 1818 thousands of candles so that the children of the town can them during a special "Festival of Candles" the night of July 4.
• And, on the morning of July 4, the community of Tecumseh, Nebraska, more than 200 flags around the courthouse as a way of those who in our country's armed forces. Each flagpole the name of a man or woman from Tecumseh who in the United States military.
• On July 4 1976, major celebrations throughout the country America's 200th birthday. In Washington, D.C., 33 tons of fireworks in the sky above the Washington Monument, along with Laser beams that "1776-1976, Happy Birthday, USA." In New York, a succession of tall sailing ships from all over the world up the Hudson River

Ann Salzmann
Intensive English Institute
University of Illinois