Declaration of Independence
When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation. read more

Making Sense of the Fourth of July
By Pauline Maier
John Adams thought Americans would commemorate their Independence Day on the second of July. Future generations, he confidently predicted, would remember July 2, 1776, as "the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America" and celebrate it as their "Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." read more

Celebrating the Fourth of July
By Marian I. Doyle
After the American Revolution, towering bonfires were lit the night before the Fourth and bells, guns and cannons broke the morning. read more

Our Flag Was Still There
By Edwards Park
Every hour it used to appear, this ghost from the past. A curtain would fall to reveal it, filling an entire wall of the National Museum of American History's great lobby at the Mall entrance. It was, of course, the huge American flag that flew over Baltimore's Fort McHenry on a hot summer night in 1814. "Was," because this object at hand, the original Star-Spangled Banner, is no longer "still there." The effects of age brought it down -- something the British failed to do 186 years ago. read more

The Star Spangled Banner
By John A. Miller
Throughout the year, visitors to Washington, DC, pause to view the flag which inspired the U.S. national anthem. The 185-year-old flag, the Star Spangled Banner, is massive (9.75 x 10.4 meters). Its 15 white cotton 5-pointed stars are on a blue field of English wool bunting, with 15 stripes, eight red and seven white, of wool bunting. The linen backing is more than half its weight of about 68 kilos. read more