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The birth of the modern superpower did not come easy.
Published July 2, 2018
John Adams wanted the actual Independence Day to be July 2, 1776. He wrote that day would be "the most memorable Epocha."
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But the Declaration of Independence was adopted on the Fourth. And here we are.
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56 people signed the Declaration of Independence, which was mostly drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
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Americans first celebrated the holiday on July 8, 1776, with a big party in Philadelphia.
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But no one told the British about it until August 1776.
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The Declaration of Independence has several copies that were dispatched to the colonies to be read aloud for people.
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And hundreds of years later, the mystery on why the documents have a big dirty hand print has never been resolved.
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Historians are not surprised by the mark. The Declaration was transported around the country in carriages, old ships and cars
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Three US presidents died on July 4. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on that day in 1826, and James Monroe the same day in 1831.
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When it comes to the American pastime of fireworks, China invented them to scare away evil spirits.
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We have Italians to thank for bringing fireworks to the United States when they resettled here.
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When America was born in 1776, it had an estimated population of 2.5 million people.
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The population has now ballooned to 323.1 million, according to the 2016 census.
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And the US flag has gone through several remakes -- the most current one designed in 1958 by a 17-year-old Boy Scout in history class. He got a B-minus.
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If you carry fireworks aboard a plane in the United States, it will cost you a hefty fine. Fireworks are prohibited because they can ignite during flight.
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