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 commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. 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." (John Adams letter to his wife Abigail Adams; July 3, 1776. The Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, ed. L.H. Butterfield (1963).)
