Why Do We Celebrate Independence Day?

Throughout the years, the United States has celebrated this single most important day of the year. It is the anniversary of the United States freedom and our nation’s birthday.

To Be Thankful for Freedom

This holiday also directs our minds to the values and freedoms that we enjoy and hold as important. In other words, this day is also an opportunity to take a moment to be thankful for the rights out founding fathers secured for us: the right to live under religious freedom and have our voices heard by representation in government.

To Honor Our Founding Fathers

We are reminded of the courage our founding fathers showed to stand up against injustice and oppression and fight for our freedom from a tyrannical government.

To Celebrate Living in a Free Land

This holiday represents the continuing struggle against those that would take our freedoms away. This is one of the most important issues of our present times. The 4th of July celebration is also a time when we state that we believe everyone should live with basic human freedoms and a time when we recognize those that don’t live in freedom. Our country has always fought for the freedom of other countries and peoples around the world. We celebrate Independence Day to celebrate living in a land where we have so many freedoms.

Declaring Independence

After the pilgrims made their historic trip to the “New World,” the British considered America to belong to them and America was viewed as one of their British colonies. As such, they ruled America from a distance.

Without any representation in Parliament, laws and taxes were passed against the Colonies. As time passed, the laws and taxes upon those British subjects living in the Colonies grew larger and more restrictive. As England continued to mount up the taxes and laws, the colonists grew increasingly angry and rebellious. In 1776, they finally had had enough and formed the Second Continental Congress to deal with the problem.

The Second Continental Congress listed the complaints and sent them to the King and Parliament. They were ignored and the business of English rule of America carried on as normal. With no recourse left to them, the Second Continental Congress began drafting the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson took the lead in drafting the document declaring the independence of the Colonies from England. The document also outlined the grievances against the King of England and Parliament. The document that he produced declared:

The rights of all men
The failures of the King and Parliament to rule justly
The formation of a government of the United States' own making

The Declaration of Independence was debated in the Second Continental Congress and minor edits were made. The delegates took a vote and, with a unanimous agreement, the Declaration of Independence was born. The date was July 4, 1776. The United States was born on this day.

This day was also the beginning of the American Revolution. Many brave men died during the War, but in the end, the United States won the right to govern its own country and no longer be under the tyranny of King George.

Celebrate the U.S. Anniversary

Have a good time and have fun, because on Independence Day, you are at an anniversary party. Share with friends what our country means to you personally. Watch the fireworks at night and remember that they represent the cannon fire that illuminated the nighttime sky during periods when we fought for our freedom. Most of all, renew yourself to fight for the values America believes in and stands for.