Happy 4th of July (250)

Nick Boucher
Jul 4
4 min read

As another Fourth of July comes upon us, we are greeted with the craze that is America250 sweeping across not just the nation, but various parts of the globe. America250 serves as the shorthand for the United States Semiquincentennial, which is the 250^th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by Congress in 1776. However, unlike many of the previous major Fourth of July anniversary milestones such as the Semicentennial, Centennial, Sesquicentennial and Bicentennial, a lot of discussion has come about this particular milestone due to the current president Donald Trump. This mostly comes in the amount of spectacle that he wishes to bring to the table to properly celebrate such a titan of a milestone for the country; which while gaudy to some degree, is not out of the ordinary for Fourth of July celebrations of this caliber.

July 4^th, 1826, marked the 50^th anniversary for America’s Declaration of Independence, in turn marking it the event of the year that would overshadow all others. While this was during a time in which Independence Day was akin to a sacred ritual rather than a proper festival, it still had a few memorable events to commemorate the event. One of the major ones being a procession in Montpelier, Vermont, on the statehouse lawn; with the procession consisting of several veterans of the American Revolution and various elderly women that were apart of the war in one form or another. The other main event were the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the former who served as a prominent spokesman to usher in our need for independence, and the latter who was one of the primary authors of the Declaration of Independence. Due to how news travelled at the time, John Adam’s final words were “Thomas Jefferson still survives”, unaware that Jefferson had beat him to the grave by roughly five hours earlier.

July 4^th, 1876, served as the 100^th anniversary for the day and with it brought what would become common place for Fourth of July Centennial celebrations going forward; that being an astronomical amount of festivities being held alongside the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia that had been ongoing since May that year; an Exposition designed to coincided with the Centennial anniversary and to show off American technological achievements first and foremost alongside those of other nations. What would solidify this however is the fact that this would serve as close to the 10^th anniversary of the formal end to the American Civil War, which in turn allowed for a sense of unity amongst both Union and Confederate states as both sides continued to reconcile their differences post war as a once again united nation.

Next is the Sesquicentennial, the 1926 celebration that brought another batch of grandiose celebrations, such as another world fair exposition in the form of the Sesquicentennial International Exposition. Unlike its 1876counterpart, served as a colossal historical piece with various exhibits, buildings and even an enormous replica of the Liberty Bell to greet those that arrived too the event. Sadly, this event was deemed a commercial flop as only around 6.4 million people attended and only over 4 million actually paid to get into the fair in the first place, resulting in something like this not happening for a third time in a row as a consequence. Luckily this was not the only source of grand-standing celebrations as parts of Massachusetts, specifically Salem, celebrated their 300^th anniversary of existing on-top of the Fourth of July celebrations. Finally, President Calvin Coolidge went and had a coin minted with his face on it during this time, being the only time a living president had a coin styled after their likeness.

The 1976 Bicentennial has thus far proven to be the most over the top of its predecessors, for the celebrations began on June 16^th and ended on September 6^th, a whole 12 weeks of celebrations dedicated to the 200^th anniversary to American independence in the form of the Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife. This festival was mostly organized by the Smithsosian Institution, who went to great lengths to make sure that every region of the United States was included, ranging to official states and territories to Indian tribes and a handful of foreign visitors such as Queen Elizebeth II. Alongside the myriads of other celebrations across the country, such as in Philadelphia, which had the Philadelphia Bicentennial Celebration, which was a seven-month gauntlet of festivities that ended with a five-hour parade on July 4^th.

With that, we are brought to the current day which, while not as uniform or organized as the previous few attempts, still presents itself with a wide array of events and festivities to partake in. Be it the firework displays that will be seen on the Washington Mall, to the America’s Block Party show that will be taking place in Los Angeles, to even a fire on the mountain event if you live within Maryland. This does not even including events that are not widely known that could be found on the America250 calendar, as every state is going to be providing their own type of revelry to this monumental event. But if public events are not your thing, then I suggest spending time with those around you during this time, as like any holiday, they are better with the friends and family you care for.