Fourth of July

The Continental Congress of the United States declared independence from England at its convention in Philadelphia on 4 July 1776. At first, celebrations were scattered and sporadic, but as years passed, the tradition of parades, picnics, and pyrotechnics was born and thrived.

The United States has no official national holidays that have any legal bearing on entities other than government employees, agencies, and Washington, D.C. They are “official” holidays only in the sense that they are days off for federal government operations. Holidays are left to the states and municipalities to decree and observe, and many have become essentially unanimous by this process. There is, therefore, no federally designated or mandated Fourth of July holiday for all Americans but only many, many local events. In 1870, Congress, which can only decree the days that its offices close, established the Fourth of July as a holiday, but without pay, for federal employees and the District of Columbia. In 1938, Congress amended it to be a holiday with pay. Congress has since modified the law further in consideration of changing times.