You've been good to me
You made me glad to be an American
T'was the Sunrise of the 4th of July
I pointed the camera up into the sky
I picked up a gull on his morning fly by
He flew south to north I didn’t ask why
That’s when I heard it, “Thank You Girl”
By your old friends John & Paul
I knew the tune they wrote, but the
Words had change somehow
I put down the camera & started to think
Last night I don’t recall having that Much to drink
With a tip of his wings & a wink of his eye
“Old School now I must fly & be gone
Tell everyone to keep singing my song
Pray for the ones who are not home today so
WE CAN BE FREE”
America celebrates July 4 as Independence Day because it was on July 4, 1776, that members of
the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.
When I was red white & blue
And eternally I'll always be
Following its adoption, the Declaration was read to the public in various American cities. Whenever they heard it, patriots erupted in cheers and celebrations.
In 1777, Philadelphians remembered the 4th of July. Bells were rung, guns fired, candles lighted, and firecrackers set off. However, while the War of Independence dragged on, July 4 celebrations were modest at best.
When the war ended in 1783, July 4 became a holiday in some places. In Boston, it replaced the date of the Boston Massacre, March 5, as the major patriotic holiday. Speeches, military events, parades, and fireworks marked the day. In 1941, Congress declared July 4 a federal holiday.
The second president, John Adams, would have approved. "I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival," he wrote his wife, Abigail. "It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other..."
