Celebrate Fourth Of July Online

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." -- Thomas Jefferson

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The Fourth of July holiday fits in with baseball, apple pie and carnivals. They are summertime traditions we start looking forward to when the weather turns warm and school lets out for the year.

Americans mark this holiday with parades, picnics and "bombs bursting in air." We wear red, white and blue and fly the American flag proudly.

This year, when you are lying on the grass, looking up at the fireworks, saying your oohs and aahs and listening to "Stars And Stripes Forever," remember a little Independence Day history.

Happy Birthday!

America is celebrating its 225th birthday this year. While we usually celebrate birthdays with cake and ice cream, America celebrates with marching bands, gun salutes and patriotism.

These types of festivities started on the first anniversary -- July 4, 1777. Cities and towns celebrated with parades, decorated streets, booming cannons, ringing bells, bonfires and spangling fireworks (imported from England) in the night skies.

By 1810, there were elaborate observances in all the major cities.

Fourth of July celebrations throughout the nation consisted of parades, gun salutes, bands, speeches, patriotic songs, ball games, dinners and picnics, and fireworks displays -- but from time to time, unusual features were enjoyed. In rural areas, watermelon-eating and pie-eating contests, potato-sack races and greased-pig-catching competitions were popular. In some towns, children paraded on decorated bicycles and adults raced bicycles; in a few areas of the West, rodeo exhibitions and competitions were the big attraction.

It's all a way of remembering the United States of America was founded July 4, 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Fourth Fun For Kids

We suggest a few fun things you can do with your children for the holiday.

There are a lot of fun games to play and things to learn about our nation's first president, George Washington, and Valley Forge. Click here to go to the Kid's Page at Valley Forge.

If your kids like to color, go to the Fourth of July Billy Bear Storybook. This Web site includes lots of fun and games.

To make a flag cake or patriotic jigglers, just go to 4th of July Activity Fun

You're A Grand Old Flag

From flagpoles and front yards all over the country, Old Glory waves proudly on the Fourth of July.

In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes pattern for the national flag.

A decade before the U.S. Constitution was finalized, Flag Day was first celebrated in 1877, the centennial of the U.S. flag's existence. But it wasn't until 1949 that President Harry Truman signed legislation making Flag Day a day of national observance.

"We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty." -- George Washington

Tour Through History

You can take several trips through history on the Internet. Take a virtual tour of the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall. Also available is a virtual marching tour of the American Revolution.

I pledge Allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty, and Justice for all. -- Pledge Of Allegiance

When you are marking Independence Day this year, remember every day thousands leave their homeland to come to the "land of the free and the home of the brave" so they can begin their American Dream. The United States is truly a diverse nation made up of dynamic people.

We invite all nations to celebrate with Americans online this Fourth of July.

"We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of America." -- Preamble: The Constitution Of The United States