Most American colonists were still loyal to King George up until the 1770s. But when England subjected her subjects to increased control over colonial affairs, it started a revolution. John Adams from Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson were appointed two of the five-man committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. At the age of 32, Jefferson was the second youngest delegate at the Continental Congress. Nevertheless, John Adams acknowledged Jefferson’s skills and reputation as a lawyer and writer, therefore Jefferson was appointed for the job. Over the next 17 days, Jefferson stayed in his rented Philadelphia room continuously writing and revising this document. The two men liked each other immediately, as Jefferson was a valuable friend. The Declaration outlined the colonies’ desire for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But the real important thing about the document is the stuff we pretend to ignore, which is this long list of things that King George has done to the colonists, and is the actual reason why the revolution happened. It was an assumption at the time that Americans needed to do something, and put something in writing, an explanation of what we’re doing. The King obstructed the administration of justice, imposing taxes without the colonists’ consent, suspending our own registry and ordering armed troops among us. On Sunday, July 4, the Congress approved the Declaration of Independence.
The first Fourth of July celebration happened on July 8 when the document was publicly read in Philadelphia. The crowd reacted with bonfires, gunfire, and fireworks. This custom was borrowed from England, of all places, which is how subjects rang in their King’s birthday; only in the colonies, they were celebrating the King’s symbolic funeral. As King George sat safely on his throne in the summer of 1776, his likeness in crudely fashioned dummies, was burned in the colonies.
In New York City, the equestrian statue of King George was hacked up and reportedly smelted into bullets for the revolution. One year later, citizens of Philadelphia honored Independence Day with fireworks, bonfires, and music.
During the Revolutionary War, troops celebrated the Declaration’s anniversary with double portions of rum. Actual bombs replaced the fireworks. After the colonies won their independence, cities across the U.S. relived the revolution by participating in the July 4 revelries.
Men commemorated the day by gathering in taverns to drink and argue over the new nation’s leaders; it was purely an American custom to freely criticize the government. On the 50th anniversary, by eerie coincidence, both the Declaration’s author and its editor, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, died on July 4, 1826. Eventually, Americans looked at Independence Day not so much as a day of rebellion, but as a day to appreciate the rights bestowed on them.
In 1870, as America was healing from the Civil War and African-Americans were freed from slavery,
Independence Day became a recognized holiday, but if federal workers wanted to spend the day picnicking, they did it without pay. That changed in 1938 when Congress voted to make Independence Day a legal holiday.
Since then, the holiday has been celebrated in good times and in bad, in war and in peace. American communities rally together, all because of that small act of bureaucracy in 1776 that started a free nation.
http://www.history.com/videos/fourth-of-july-history.