{"id":99581,"date":"2026-07-03T15:45:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99581"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:48:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:48:01","slug":"celebrating-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=99581","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reprinted from an enewsletter by Maine Senator Stacey Guerin, District 4.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Fourth of July \u2013 also known as Independence Day or July 4th \u2013 has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941; yet the tradition of Independence Day celebrations dates back to the 18th century and the American Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress<\/a> voted in favor of independence from Britain. Two days later, delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence<\/a>, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Declaration of Independence allowed Congress to seek alliances with foreign countries, and the fledgling U.S. formed its most important alliance early in 1778 with France. Without France\u2019s support, America might well have lost the Revolutionary War. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war waged by the American colonies against Britain, which began more than a year earlier in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord near Boston, would eventually end when British forces surrendered in Yorktown, Virginia. Yet the Declaration and America\u2019s victory had far-reaching effects around the globe as other nations saw a small novel nation win its freedom from the greatest military force of its time. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1776 to today, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Independence Day will be celebrated on Saturday, July 4, 2026, marking the nation\u2019s 250th birthday. Known as the semiquincentennial, this historic milestone commemorates two and a half centuries since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communities across the country will observe the anniversary with special ceremonies, educational programs, parades, concerts and other events honoring America\u2019s history. The occasion also offers an opportunity to reflect on the nation\u2019s founding ideals, recognize the generations who have worked to preserve and expand its freedoms and consider how Americans can carry those ideals forward for the next 250 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pexels-photo-7997412.jpeg\"<\/a>
Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fourth of July \u2013 also known as Independence Day or July 4th \u2013 has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941; yet the tradition of Independence Day celebrations dates back to the 18th century and the American Revolutionary War. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted in favor of … Continue reading “Celebrating Independence Day”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[165,190,19,218],"tags":[816,206],"post_folder":[696],"class_list":["post-99581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication-2","category-grange-principle-and-practice","category-history-and-trivia","category-resources-for-granges-and-grangers","tag-fourth-of-july","tag-grange-advocacy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Walter Boomsma","author_link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?author=2122"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Fourth of July \u2013 also known as Independence Day or July 4th \u2013 has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941; yet the tradition of Independence Day celebrations dates back to the 18th century and the American Revolutionary War. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted in favor of…","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1arC1-pU9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99583,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99581\/revisions\/99583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99581"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=99581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}