July 1st starts one of the busiest vacation weeks across America. Independence Day celebrated on July 4th is a federal holiday that allows most everyone a day off work and school. All federal offices are closed. The holiday along with the mild summer weather is the perfect time for easy travels or a casual “picnic”. Warm temperatures and extra hours of daylight add to the fun.
The tradition of the celebration of the birth of American began on July 4th, 1776 when the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. The document was signed by fifty-six delegates from the original thirteen colonies at various times, severing their political connections to Great Britain.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the signers and also recognized as a Founding Father of American you might say was sort of a “Social Media” buff of his time. In the year 1721 at the age of 16, Franklin founded a weekly newspaper, wrote obituaries and eventually became a master of the printer’s trade. He is also known for his writing in Poor Richard’s Almanac.
As a scientist, his experiment with a key attached to the string of a kite proved that lightning was electrical in nature. On a June afternoon in 1752, an awaited thunderstorm in Philadelphia offered him the perfect day to go fly a kite.
If our founding fathers re-appeared today they would see fireworks light up the skies across the land on July 4th. The grand finale of the show with the sound of cherry bombs and the crackling of dragon eggs would have them wondering if an “asteroid” was on its way to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
God Bless America
The Haunted wordsmith three things challenge
Benjamin Franklin picture courtesy of: pixabay.com/en/usa-america-constitution-signing-1779925/
Fireworks courtesy of: /pixabay.com/en/fireworks-pyrotechnics-102971/
Did you know they first celebrated Independence Day in 1777 with fireworks? We hadn’t even won independence yet.
no I didn’t but it would be interesting to know what they used and how high up they went
Pretty high I would think. I found this in a database on the first 4th of July celebration and comes from a Philadelphia newspaper: “The evening was closed with the ringing of bells, and at night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks, which began and concluded with thirteen rockets on the commons, and the city was beautifully illuminated. Every thing was conducted with the greatest order and decorum, and the face of joy and gladness was universal.”
The “west” has had fireworks since the 1300s and “according to Simon Werritt, a science historian and author of Fireworks: Pyrotechnic Arts and Sciences in European History. They became a part of official celebrations, from the annual “Girandola” fireworks display at the Castello Sant’Angelo in Rome to the 1533 coronation of Anne Boleyn as Queen of England.”
The Smithsonian has a cool looking hand-etching of fireworks over the Thames in 1797 here https://ssec.si.edu/stemvisions-blog/evolution-fireworks
They’re already booming in my neighborhood…sounds like a fun week ahead
Same here. I have someone shooting off illegal fireworks in a wind storm. There are no words for the level of stupidity we see here on the 4th.