Towns and communities across New England are planning special Independence Day celebrations featuring parades, music, food, and fireworks.

It all began on July 3, 1781, when the Massachusetts legislature called for an official state celebration to recognize “the anniversary of the independence of the United States of America,” making it the first state to recognize the 4th of July as an official holiday.

Five years prior, on July 4, the 13 colonies claimed their independence from Great Britain, an event that eventually led to the formation of the United States. As a result, each year, citizens celebrate this historic event on the Fourth of July. 

Perhaps surprisingly, when the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered radical.

However, by the middle of the following year, many more colonists had come to favor independence, thanks to growing hostility against Britain and the spread of revolutionary sentiments such as those expressed in Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, published in early 1776.

On June 7, when the Continental Congress met at the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, the Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a motion calling for the colonies’ independence. Congress postponed the vote on Lee’s resolution but appointed a five-person committee to draft a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain. 

On July 2, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s resolution for independence. On that day, John Adams (second U.S. President) wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2 “will be celebrated by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”

Although the vote for actual independence took place on July 2, the 4th became the day that was celebrated as the birth of American Independence. The tradition of setting off fireworks began in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777, when a ship’s cannon fired a 13-gun salute in honor of the 13 colonies.

The U.S. Congress made July 4th a federal holiday in 1870, and in 1941 the provision was expanded to grant a paid holiday to all federal employees.