The making of a Nation: Celebrating July 4th III

Editor’s Note: Final in a three-part series.

ALBANY — Years after it successfully fought Great Britain for its independence, America was still young but its surviving founders were not. However, a surprising number were still ready to celebrate the nation’s Golden Jubilee. John Quincy Adams. Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carroll were still alive. Although no general officers of the Revolution remained in America, the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat that fought with the Continental Army, was living in France and celebrated the occasion.

John Adams’ declining health prevented him from attending the festivities in Quincy, Mass. However, at the urging of celebration committee members, he was urged to write a toast to be given in his honor. “I give you,” he replied, “independence forever.” Asked if he wasn’t sure he wanted to add anything he responded, “Not a word.”

All living signers of the Declaration of Independence were invited to Washington by the Committee of Arrangements. However, none was able to attend. Jefferson sent a response to President John Quincy Adams, whose father had signed the document, and also sent a response to the invitation.

The passion of Jefferson’s message astounded those who heard it when it was read by Adams. At the same time, he lay ill at Monticello, his home in Virginia. On the night of July 3, he raised his head and asked, “Is it the Fourth?” Those would be his final words. He died on the following afternoon on the Fourth of July 1826.

During the temperance movements of the 1830s and ’40s, the celebratory tone was tamped down as many pressed for a nation independent from alcohol. Many towns and communities touted “cold water” celebrations.

At the same time, fireworks were becoming an integral part of most celebrations. Large towns fired cannon, Local Militia paraded and fired celebratory salutes. Seaside communities saw massive naval cannon salutes that literally shook the towns. Children were presented with miniature cannons that fired black powder salutes. Commercially manufactured fireworks were rare, so salutes were fired into the air from a personal firearm.

As the nation became more industrialized, community leaders worked to reduce the negative impact of overexuberant celebrations. The tradition of toasts and intoxication gave way to elaborate parades and political parodies. Participants in parades dressed in the elaborate costumes of Roman Legionnaires, Templar Knights, Greek Corsairs, as well as prominent literary characters. Much like Mardi Gras today, minus the beads.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President on Nov. 6, 1860, with America close to the point of fracture over slavery, taxes and tariffs. When South Carolina seceded from the Union in December of 1860 following word of Lincoln’s election, many feared the point of no return had been reached. By February, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas had followed South Carolina in withdrawing from the union.

On April 12, 1861, South Carolina pushed that point even farther, firing on Fort Sumter off its coast. News of this action drew Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina into the newly formed Confederacy.

Just a month after taking office Lincoln attempted to force the states to remain united, calling for a special session of Congress to convene on the Fourth of July. He also called for 75,000 volunteers to enlist for three months in case the nation went to war.

Many Southern men looked to the glory of what they perceived as a short war fought for the same reasons as the original fight for independence. “We are fighting as our fathers fought … for the essential elements of self-governance and independence,” one wrote.

The Fourth of July in 1861 was celebrated as usual in Northern cities. Congress convened and gave Lincoln the authority to recruit half a million men. There was now no question to the level of Northern resolve. Meanwhile, in the 11 states that had seceded, celebrations were held with the firing of 11-gun salutes for the newly formed Confederate States.

In July of 1863, the two opposing armies came face to face in Gettysburg, Penn., on July 1, and the wheat fields were torn to bare dirt and covered in blood. As the carnage mounted, telegraph wires, no longer carried messages from the field. It was not until darkness began to fall on July 4 that word of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s retreat was received. The tide had turned on Independence Day. The threat of a Southern invasion had been avoided.

On July 4, 1864, a group of freedman and Northern teachers gathered at Vicksburg to board a ship that would take them to the home of Jefferson Davis to celebrate. The home was decorated with flowers and greenery and a formal dinner with 13 toasts was held. In the North, celebrations were subdued as the war had ground on for too long. However, the end was in sight.

The following year would see what many believe to be the grandest celebrations ever held. Whites in the South saw no reason to celebrate. However, Southern blacks celebrated their new freedom with great abandon. The holiday would not be formally celebrated in the South until the end of Reconstruction.

In 1875, the Centennial Celebration would be the result of years of planning. The committee in Philadelphia knew that at least $10 million would be needed to eclipse London’s 1851 Great Exhibition and a recent exhibition in Vienna.

Fundraising was more of a challenge than the committee had anticipated as many viewed the celebration as overly extravagant. The administration of President Ulysses Grant was rocked by a series of scandals. Reconstruction was coming to an end, and politics in the Southern states was literally and figuratively a bloody affair. Western expansion was going full bore, and issues related to Indian atrocities were surfacing. Having a real celebration was questionable.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, anti-fireworks efforts and temperance efforts once again came into play, dampening celebrations. In reality, much of this was driven by a class struggle to draw the working-class families into the “organized” celebrations.

In 1917, the United States joined our oldest ally, France in its fight against Germany. In doing so, we also sided with our oldest adversary, Britain. Many had wanted to enter the war earlier and some went on their own. America was only in the war for a year and a half, but it inspired celebrations of patriotism here in the States as only a righteous war can. Across the ocean, tens of thousands of American troops celebrated in muddy trenches with only the reassurance that they were fighting for freedom.

The Great Depression pulled the plug on any major efforts to celebrate to the degree that New York’s 1937 celebration focused on elderly Spanish American War veterans raising a flag at City Hall Park. Formal fireworks bans took place across the nation, and the holiday lost its luster.

Ironically, during World War II, when patriotic fever was at its height, so was rationing. Therefore, few Fourth of July celebrations were held during the war years.

However, one wartime celebration is worthy of note. A month after D-Day, American troops were fighting to break out of Normandy. The military had a long tradition of firing a national salute with a salvo for every state. On July 4, 1944, Gen. Omar Bradly commanded that every artillery piece on the front fire on a selected target precisely at noon. When the hands of the clock lined up 1,1000 shells burst on German targets in a national salute to freedom.

In the 1960s, political turbulence led to malaise in moving toward a bicentennial celebration. The election of Richard Nixon caused all five members of the planning committee to resign. A commission of Nixon appointees did relatively nothing for two years and could come to no consensus on a single site for the exhibition, choosing four sites instead. In 1972, the commission admitted it had basically spent years and millions to come up with nothing.

A new Bicentennial Administration headed by former Navy Secretary John Warner focused on making lemonade from lemons by creating an amalgamation of home-grown local events. Texas had a chili championship. Montana unveiled a statue of a goose.

But across the country local committees created celebrations focused on their revolutionary roots and civic pride. Re-enactments were planned. One of the most notable events was the sailing of the “Tall Ships,” during which 50 warships flying the flags of two nations sailed into New York Harbor as 6 million Americans crowded the shoreline.

With a focus on safety, fireworks in general were seen as a needlessly dangerous exercise. The pro-safety push was in step with the times but out of step with Richard Nixon’s pro-business policies. When he learned $50 million in sales was at stake he pushed back, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission set new standards for legal fireworks. Now, fireworks are a big part of each yearly celebration.