I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of the mechanics - each one singing his as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat -
The deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench - the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter's song - the ploughboy's, on his way in the morning,
The singing of the mother - or of the young wife at work -
Or of the girl sewing or washing;
Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else.
-- Walt Whitman
A Quiet Celebration

July 8, 1776:  Upon the occasion of the first public reading of the
Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, the town
exploded with the news.  Bonfires were burning, church bells were
ringing, and people were cheering all over town.  Samuel Adams,
architect of the revolution, was celebrating inside himself.  He walked
back to his boarding house and took up a bundle of letters he had
received from friends and patriots down the years.  These were
letters which might hang those friends now, if they ever fell into the
hands of the British.  He spent a long time...snipping those letters
into tiny bits.  He opened his second-story window, so that he could
look down on the chaos in the street below, and...let those little bits
of paper fly by the handsful down on the celebration -- confetti for a
new nation.  Then, quite tired and quite satisfied, Sam Adams closed
the window and went to sleep.
July 4, 1777

The celebration in the city of Philadelphia as described in an article in The Virginia Gazette:
Yesterday being the anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America, was celebrated
in this city with demonstration of joy and festivity.  About noon, all the armed ships and gallies in the
river were drawn up before the city, dressed in the gayest manner, with the colours of the United
States and streamers displayed.  At one o'clock, the yards being properly manned, they began the
celebration of the day by a discharge of thirteen cannon from each of the ships, and one from each of
the thirteen gallies, in honour of the Thirteen United States.  In the afternoon an elegant dinner was
prepared for Congress, to which were invited the President and Supreme Executive Council and
Speaker of the Assembly of this State, the General Officers and Colonels of the Army, and strangers of
eminence, and the members of the several Continental Boards in town.  The Hessian band of music
taken in Trenton the 26th of December last, attended and heightened the festivity with some fine
performances suited to the joyous occasion, while a corps of British deserters, taken into the service
of the continent by the State of Georgia, being drawn up before the door, filled up the intervals with
feux de joie.  After dinner, a number of toasts were drunk, all breaking independence and a generous
love of liberty and commemorating the memories of those brave and worthy patriots who gallantly
exposed their lives, and fell gloriously in defense of freedom and the righteous cause of their
country.  Towards evening several troops of horse, a corps of artillery and a brigade of North Carolina
forces, which was in town on its way to join the grand army, were drawn up in Second Street and
reviewed by Congress and General Officers.  The evening was closed by a ringing of bells, and at
night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks, which began and concluded with thirteen rockets on
the commons, and the city was beautifully illuminated.  Thus may the 4th of July, that glorious and ever
memorable day, be celebrated through America, by the sons of freedom, from age to age, till time shall
be no more.  Amen.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with inherent and inalienable rights; that mong these, are
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure
these rights, governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just power from the consent of the
governed.  -- Declaration of Independence as originally
written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776
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