NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 29: Fireworks are displayed over the East River as part of the annual Macy’s Independence Day Fireworks Display in New York City on June 29, 2020. This is the first of six Fourth of July fireworks displays across the city that are being kept secret to minimize crowd gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – It’s always fun to take part in fun Fourth of July traditions, but it’s good to review some of the history of Independence Day.
On July 4, 1776, the United States formally declared its independence from Great Britain.
The nation’s founding document was called the Declaration of Independence and outlined that the then 13 colonies would no longer be subject to British colonial rule.
“It’s a list of grievances against the king,” said Ben Gates, a senior lecturer at Purdue Fort Wayne University. “In that respect, it’s basically a justification for the American War of Independence.”
The Preamble, as most remember it, reads: “We believe these self-evident truths, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Drafted by such well-known figures as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and most famously, Thomas Jefferson, the document stood as a symbol of courage and bravery.
According to Gates, America wasn’t the superpower it is today, and the colonists were up against the world’s leading military power at the time.
“Thomas Jefferson and others made it clear that the rights they were fighting for — what they called ‘inalienable rights’ — were given to us by our Creator.”
