Add to favorites Examiner Bio

Fourth of July Firework History for Children and their Families

 

The slide show has ten of over eighty firework displays in Colorado this 4^th of July. Besides the Ooo…Ah factor, how did fireworks first become part of our Independence Day celebrations?

 

The Fourth of July is United States Independence day. It is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. The legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain was on July 2, 1776. This was when the Second Continental Congress voted and approved the “Resolution of Independence.” Congress then needed a statement explaining this decision, which was the Declaration of Independence. This important declaration was written by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as the main author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4^th. A good portion of the delegates did not actually sign the Declaration until August 2, 1776.

 

The first fireworks were brought to America over 100 years earlier in the 1600s. It was a year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 1777, that Congress encouraged fireworks. On July 4, 1777, in Philadelphia, a firework display with thirteen rockets both at the beginning and the ending of the display were set off. The thirteen rockets represented the thirteen colonies. On July 4, 1776, the colonies declared their independence from England. It was not as simple as a declaration. It was not until 1783, that the Revolutionary War ended. The thirteen colonies, that those first Fourth of July rockets represented, became the United States of America.

 

During this time there was another firework display in Philadelphia on July 4, 1779. Rockets ascending to burst into 13 stars. As the United States grew and spread west the idea of Firework Displays spread into each new state with the settlers.

 

Fourth of July Books!

The Story of America’s Birthday by Patricia A. Pingry

Happy 4^th of July Jenny Sweeney by Leslie Kimmelman

 

Enjoy your holiday!

R.R.Cratty