Ever wonder how Americans got the idea that our Independence Day should be celebrated with fireworks? Credit John Adams, who wrote:

“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival … It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

Readers will note Adams believed the celebration would take place two days earlier than it does. Though the Second Continental Congress had voted to pass the Lee Resolution and approve independence on July 2, it took them another two days to actually adopt the Declaration of Independence.

Today we are far more likely to consider the sentiment in part of Richard Henry Lee’s resolution that reads “Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown …” than we are to remember some of the deeper details of the Declaration, written by Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the Committee of Five.

Those founding fathers believed it essential to spell out grievances against King George III, such as: “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good,” “He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands,” or “He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.”

The entire document is worth reading, especially as we celebrate THIS Independence Day. In fact, maybe Adams should have suggested the hope that citizens would celebrate with readings of the Declaration, our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. What if we all took a look at some of the letters they wrote each other, as they tried to forge a nation? What if we learned about the hopes and fears they had for this country?

Would that change the way we celebrate on our day of pool parties, barbecues, parades and fireworks? Perhaps not. It might just strengthen our appreciation for — and desire to preserve — the American experiment they set in motion.

However it is done, that experiment is, indeed, still very much worth celebrating. Have a happy Fourth of July, everyone!